A brace from Turkish youngster Hamit Altintop (39, 58) had put Schalke 04 in the driving seat but substitute, and Bundesliga debutant Flavio Conceicao, levelled for Dortmund thundering home a 20-yard free-kick on 65 minutes.

Schalke 04 looked set to win the 122nd Ruhr derby thanks to Altintop's double before Amoroso struck late on to snatch a point for the visitors and disappoint most of the capacity 61,000 the crowd.

Heynckes was disappointed to concede the late goal but lauded the effort of his charges.

"To have a game such as this on the opening day of the season is extraordinary," he said.

"My team played good football in patches but obviously I am disappointed to lose two points at the end."

Dortmund coach Matthias Sammer conceded his side were second best in the first 45 minutes and was glad to escape with a point.

"We could not handle the tempo of Schalke in the first half," said Sammer.

"You could see that we had people missing."

Bayer Leverkusen were indebted to their Brazilian connection for a 4-1 triumph over newcomers SC Freiburg at the BayArena.

Brazilian midfielder Robson Ponte seized the initiative for Bayer cooly slotting home on 17 minutes but Sascha Riether equalised three minutes later.

However, Bayer restored their lead through Brazilian World Cup winner Lucio on 28 minutes before compatriot Juan made it 3-1 heading into the interval.

German international Oliver Neuville netted a fourth just after the hour mark to cap a stellar display from Bayer who forgot about all their woes of last season.

Leverkusen fans will now have hopes of resurrecting their days of challenging Bayern Munich for the German championship.

The reigning champions started the defence of their Bundesliga title with a 3-1 win over newly-promoted Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.

Goals from Ze Roberto (16), Bosnian international Hasan Salihamidzic (20) and Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro (42) underlined why Bayern will be the team to beat this season.

Hannover upset League Cup champions SV Hamburg coasting to a 3-0 victory in front of 53,000 spectators at the AOL-Arena.

The two sides locked horns in the opening match of last season with SV Hamburg running out 2-1 winners but it was a different story for Hannover on Saturday.

Czech Jiri Stanjer stunned the home crowd netting in the 11th minute and second half strikes from Thomas Brdaric (76)and Mohammadou Idrissou (79) clinched the points for the visitors.

Werder Bremen put their embarrassing 4-0 Intertoto Cup defeat by SV Pasching behind them with a 3-0 win over Hertha Berlin at the Olympic Stadium.

Enigmatic Brazilian Ailton, who has been at loggerheads with the club in the close season, was the star grabbing a brace on 18 and 65 minutes.

Frenchman Johan Micoud notched the other goal after 21 minutes.

Kaiserslautern's hopes of wiping out their three-point deficit, imposed after they were found guilty of illegal payments, were dashed as 1860 Munich took the spoils with a 1-0 win at the Fritz-Walter Stadium.

A missed penalty from Miroslav Klose on 26 minutes and the dismissal of Bill Tchato - the first red card of the new season - after a rash challenge ensured an entertaining first period.

1860 Munich made their numerical advantage count with Markus Schroth scoring the all-important goal shortly before the interval.

VfL Wolfsburg, for whom record-signing Andres D'Alessandro was making his Bundesliga debut, came out on top in a see-saw battle with VfL Bochum, triumphing 3-2 at the Volkswagen Arena.