Schalke 04 fought back from behind twice to secure a 3-3 draw in their opening Bundesliga game against Hamburg.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos, a reported target for Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, was missing from the Schalke starting lineup, but Julian Draxler started for the hosts despite interest from a host of European clubs.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar gave the home side a lead inside 90 seconds when he latched onto Draxler's pass and wrapped a shot around the onrushing Rene Adler.

Joel Matip's handball gave Schalke a lifeline in the 12th minute, which Rafael van der Vaart grabbed with both hands as he tucked his penalty into the corner of the net.

Schalke took the lead ten minutes later after a ruthless counter-attack ended with Maximilian Beister's strong header bouncing in off the back of a hapless Timo Hildebrand.

Milan Bedelj then struck the crossbar with a glancing header from van der Vaart's free-kick as Schalke struggled to cope with the away side's pace and power.

An unmarked Huntelaar headed home from a corner on the stroke of half time to give the 60,000 fans in the Veltins-Arena something to cheer after a poor first half display from Die Knappen.

However, more lax defending at a corner gifted Hamburg their third goal of the game when Lasse Sobiech nodded in van der Vaart's cross.

Adam Szalai stole an equaliser for the home side when he pounced on the ball to poke home after Adler spilt Christian Clemens' speculative drive.

Matip capped a woeful afternoon with an astonishing miss from six yards in injury time, much to the frustration of the home fans.