Borussia Dortmund are back on track! Following the international break, BVB started the Advent period and a run of eight games in 25 day with a 4-2 (3-2) home win over Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Boris Rupert reporting

The 81,365 spectators at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK saw the visitors, who started the game on the front foot, take a 2-0 lead in under 30 minutes thanks to goals from Reitz (13) and Koné (28), before BVB hit back with force and turned the game around before the break with Sabitzer (30), Füllkrug (32) and Bynoe-Gittens (45) scoring to make it 3-2. The Black & Yellows could not add a fourth goal before the break or in a highly dominant spell at the start of the second period and were holding on for the win in the closing stages. Malen only wrapped it up in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

The scenario:   
After taking only two points from their first five games of the season, Borussia Mönchengladbach had picked up 11 from their six matches since and, with 13 points in total, were now back in the top half of the table for the first time since the opening day. While the opposition from the Lower Rhine were unbeaten in three rounds of matches, BVB had failed to register a victory in that period and had dropped down to fifth position.

Personnel matters:   
In addition to Felix Nmecha (hip injury) and Julien Duranville (fitness training), the ill duo of Karim Adeyemi and Sébastien Haller missed out too. Coach Edin Terzic made four changes compared to the 2-1 defeat in Stuttgart before the international break: captain Emre Can – after an absence of almost a month – Marco Reus, Rami Bensebaini and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens returned to the starting XI in place of Salih Özcan, Niklas Süle (both bench), Nmecha and Adeyemi. Mateu Morey was also fit again and back in contention for the first time since Matchday 2.

Tactics:   
Gladbach lined up in a 5-3-2 formation off the ball. The wide men frequently pushed forward from the back five in order to disrupt Dortmund’s build-up play. Plea, nominally the second striker, repeatedly dropped back and drove the visitors’ switch-play from midfield. Brandt occupied the central position in the attacking midfield in Dortmund’s 4-2-3-1 system, with Reus joining Brandt in the middle during build-up play whenever right-back Ryerson pushed high up. Sabitzer was positioned a few metres ahead of Can in defensive midfield.

The match & analysis:
BVB showed great commitment to begin with in the cold and wet weather but could hardly make an impact in the final third and had to be on their guard against courageous counter-attacks. Netz escaped his markers in the third minute, receiving the ball in a centre-left position in the box and shooting at goal. But Kobel made a comfortable save, as did his counterpart Nicolas a short while later when he thwarted Dortmund’s first shot at goal by Bynoe-Gittens (8).

Attacker Plea initiated the opening goal for the visitors with a pass from midfield, picking out the precise gap in Dortmund’s high line. Reitz was clean through, could not be caught and fired the ball into the back of the net off the left upright to make it 1-0 (13). Plea finished off the next through-ball, which was played down the right flank this time, six minutes later. But the goal did not count due to a marginal offside position.

Although BVB had more of the possession (60%) they were initially unable to make their mark going forward, while Gladbach held their line and attacked with vigour whenever the opportunity presented itself. And they were met with limited resistance in this phase of the game. After a corner-kick had not been properly cleared, Honorat’s cross found its way through to Koné, who initially ran out of the penalty area with the ball at his feet, turned, was not closed down and fired home a powerful shot from 16 metres to make it 2-0 (28).

The Black & Yellows hit back with a two-goal salvo in what was at times torrential rain. Gladbach had pushed high up the pitch when Reus intercepted an opposition attack, then won the ball and passed it on to Brandt, whose cross from the right flank was converted by Sabitzer on the left corner of the six-yard box to pull it back to 2-1; the shot took a deflection off Scally (30). Barely 120 seconds had elapsed when Bensebaini played the ball from the left flank through to Bynoe-Gittens, who played a one-touch ball to Füllkrug. He met it on the volley from around 14 metres and equalised at 2-2 via the inside of the right post.

There could have been a penalty for a foul on Bynoe-Gittens by Weigl shortly before the break, but referee Jablonski waved play on (42). After exactly 45 minutes, Koné lost the ball to Reus outside the Gladbach penalty area. Via Füllkrug the ball ended up with Bynoe-Gittens, who picked his spot from 16 metres and fired home a low, left-footed shot to make it 3-2. Reus could have added a fourth goal in stoppage time but was denied by Nicolas on the left of the six-yard box.

Dortmund re-emerged from the changing rooms with Reyna on for Sabitzer. Brandt joined Can in holding midfield. And the team started the second half strongly. Nicolas kept out a potential fourth goal with a great save from Füllkrug’s header (52), with Bynoe-Gittens then failing to beat the Gladbach keeper with a shot from a centre-left position (54), Reus firing a free-kick from 17 metres out at the bar (56) and Can missing from a similar position a short while later (57). The shot count stood at 16-6 at the hour mark; Gladbach’s custodian Nicolas had made seven saves by this point.

But Gladbach, who switched to a 4-4-2 formation, found their way back into the game and began to make more appearances in Dortmund’s half. BVB’s next opportunity did not come until the 74th minute: Hummels, who had pushed forward, laid it off in the box to Reus but he could not control the ball and Nicolas managed to get to it. Only in the 90th minute did things get really dangerous once again, but Nicolas was again on hand to make the stop – this time from Malen.

Kramer missed the chance to level the scores for Gladbach when he hammered the ball over the bar in the six minutes of stoppage time. Instead, Malen won the ball following a corner, sprinted from the edge of his own box down the entire pitch and fired into an empty net to make it 4-2.

Outlook:   
BVB will play two away fixtures next week: they are first up against AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday (21:00 CET), before paying a visit to Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Sunday (17:00 CET).

Teams & goals

Bundesliga Matchday 12
BORUSSIA DORTMUND 4-2 (3-2) BOR. MÖNCHENGLADBACH

Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini – Can (Özcan, 67), Sabitzer (Reyna, 46) – Reus (Wolf, 90+4), Brandt, Bynoe-Gittens (Malen, 67) – Füllkrug (Moukoko, 75)
Bor. M’gladbach: Nicolas – Scally, Elvedi, Wöber – Weigl (Kramer, 82) – Honorat (Hack, 73), Reitz (Ngoumou, 61), Koné, Netz – Plea (Neuhaus, 73), Jordan (Chiarodia, 46)
Substitutes: Meyer, Morey, Meunier, Süle – Olschowsky, Friedrich, Herrmann
Goals: 0-1 Reitz (Plea, 13), 0-2 Koné (Honorat, 28), 1-2 Sabitzer (Brandt, 30), 2-2 Füllkrug (Bynoe-Gittens, 32), 3-2 Bynoe-Gittens (Füllkrug, 45), 4-2 Malen (90+7)
Corners: 5-4 (1-2 at half-time), chance ratio: 11-4 (5-3)
Referee: Jablonski (Bremen), yellow cards: Brandt – Weigl, Koné
Attendance: 81,365 (sold-out), weather: rainy, 5 degrees