The headline fixture of Matchday 10 of the Bundesliga saw Borussia Dortmund lose 4-0 (2-0) to Bayern Munich. This was BVB’s first defeat of the season.

Boris Rupert reporting 
In front of a sold-out crowd of 81,365 at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, BVB were not at the races at all in the opening stages, as Bayern stormed to a 2-0 lead within eight minutes thanks to goals from Upamecano and Kane. Borussia Dortmund had a few chances to pull one back, but Kane’s second in the 72nd minute sealed all three points for the visitors from Munich. In stoppage time, the Englishman scored a third goal to bring the final score to 4-0.

The scenario:  

Both teams came into the game undefeated. Bayern, having started the season with seven wins and two draws, were in second place with 23 points. Two points and two places behind them were BVB (six wins, three draws). The Black & Yellows were unbeaten in 20 games in the Bundesliga and 26 across all competitions at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, while FCB had won five of their last six road games in the Bundesliga. BVB’s last Bundesliga win in this fixture came five years ago.

Personnel matters:   
Borussia again had to make do without captain Emre Can. Three days after the cup clash with Hoffenheim, Edin Terzic made four changes to his starting XI: Hummels, Sabitzer, Malen and Füllkrug came into the line-up in place of Süle, Reyna, Moukoko and Bynoe-Gittens, who all moved to the bench.

Tactics:   
Both teams lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The visitors looked to get bodies forward early on, launching high-speed attacks and, after seizing an early 2-0 lead, had the luxury of changing their game plan early on, as they sought to sit deeper and control the pace of the game while remaining open to high-tempo transitions. 

The match & analysis:
The first corner of the game resulted in the opening goal, with Sané’s delivery landing on the head of the onrushing Upamecano, who had the simplest of finishes from close range in the third minute. This would not be the only time the visitors from Munich were given far too much space. In the sixth minute, Coman had time to pull the trigger from 18 metres out, as his effort flew just over the crossbar. BVB were all at sea in the early stages of the game, running into dead ends, giving the ball away. Soon enough they were punished: Sané broke forward on the counter, played a one-two with Goretzka and then picked out Kane in the six-yard box, who had the simplest of finishes to make it 2-0 (9.) The fourth big chance of the match also fell to the visitors, but this time Kobel did well to parry Sané’s shot from a tight angle (16). The goal probably wouldn’t have counted, as it looked as if Sané came from an offside position.

Hummels responded by seizing the initiative and pushing the game higher into the opposition half. However, the Black & Yellow forward line still struggled to make inroads in the Bayern backline. At the very least, they managed to rustle up a couple of shots on goal. After half an hour, Dortmund had more efforts than their opponents (4-3), but unlike Bayern’s, none of them were clear-cut chances. 

The chance to go into the break with a more favourable scoreline presented itself in first-half stoppage time. A promising attack looked to have broken up, but Sabitzer did well to win the ball and direct it to the feet of Brandt on the left. The latter’s pass to Reus ended up landing in the path of Malen, who found himself in a pocket of space but was unable to keep his shot down from ten metres out.

Terzic reacted by making a change at half-time, with Süle replacing Wolf. However, the second half continued in much the same vein as the first half. Musiala had a clear run on goal 26 seconds after the restart, but Kobel made himself large and deflected the ball out for a corner, which was also dangerous. There was a pinball situation in the area, which ended with Mazraoui firing just wide of the BVB goal.

It took until the 56th minute for BVB to launch their first threatening attack. After a long ball played forward into the penalty area, the combative Reus asserted himself, played a one-two with Füllkrug but was unable to get the better of Manuel Neuer despite getting off a powerful shot (56). Shortly afterwards, Kobel was called upon again at the other end, first making a strong save to deny a Sané effort in the 58th minute, and then a shot from Musiala in the 64th minute.

Adeyemi and Nmecha came on to replace Malen and Özcan in a game that was becoming more emotionally charged. With a back three, and Ryerson and Adeyemi on the right and left flanks respectively in a 3-5-2 system, BVB were now on the front foot. Nmecha hit the side-netting in the 67th minute, but any hopes of a comeback were extinguished in the 72nd minute when Kane latched onto a pass from Coman to make it 3-0. The Englishman even bagged his hat-trick in time added on.

Outlook:  
The packed schedule of seven matches in 23 days ends next week with fixtures against Newcastle United on Tuesday (18:45 CET) and away to Stuttgart on Saturday (15:30 CET).

Teams & goals

Bundesliga, Matchday 10
BORUSSIA DORTMUND 0–4 (0–2) BAYERN MUNICH

Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Wolf (46, Süle), Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Ryerson – Özcan (57, Nmecha), Sabitzer – Malen (57, Adeyemi), Reus, Brandt (66, Moukoko) – Füllkrug (79, Haller)
Bayern Munich: Neuer – Mazraoui, Upamecano (60, Pavlovic), Kim, Davies – Laimer, Goretzka – Coman, Musiala (89, Choupo-Moting), Sané (89, Müller) – Kane
Substitutes: Meyer, Bensebaini, Reyna, Bynoe-Gittens – Ulreich, Krätzig, Sarr, Gnabry, Tel
Goals: 0-1 Upamecano (4, Sané), 0-2 Kane (9, Sané), 0-3 Kane (72, Coman), 0-4 Kane (90+3, Pavlovic)
Corners: 3-2 (0-1 at half-time), chance ratio: 4-10 (1-2)
Referee: Aytekin (Oberasbach), bookings: Hummels, Ryerson, Sabitzer – Sané, Tuchel, Laimer‚
Attendance: 81,365 (sold-out), weather: rainy, 9 degrees celsius