Borussia Dortmund won their second pre-season friendly on Wednesday evening. The Black & Yellows ran out 3-2 (1-1) victors away to Rot-Weiß Oberhausen thanks to goals from Reus, Papadopoulos and Bamba.

Second friendly, second victory. Borussia Dortmund had more problems against Regionalliga outfit Rot-Weiß Oberhausen than they did in their 7-0 win at Westfalia Rhynern a week beforehand. BVB were still without their internationals, who only returned to team training this week, at Stadion Niederrhein. Felix Nmecha, Youssoufa Moukoko and Karim Adeyemi, who have recently had minor injuries but are back in team training again, also missed out. BVB coach Edin Terzic again fielded a team of senior and U23 players in a 4-1-4-1 formation.

BVB had more possession from the start, but the hosts were more dangerous in front of the 8,610 crowd. Oberhausen played a cross into the box in the fifth minute that Mats Hummels almost turned into his own net. It was the start of a spell of pressure that the Black & Yellows struggled to extricate themselves from – and they ultimately fell behind when Cottrell Ezekwem headed a cross over the line to fire RWO into a 1-0 lead (6).

BVB showed their strengths through Paul Besong, who could not bring Julien Duranville’s through-ball under control (12), and through Marco Reus, who equalised at 1-1 from a central position in the 14th minute following an assist from Thorgan Hazard. Goalkeeper Kevin Kratzsch did manage to get a touch on the shot but the ball flew over him and into the net. A shot by Hazard was subsequently blocked (19), before Reus fired a free-kick well over the frame of the goal (20). Oberhausen repeatedly made an impact on the counter-attack and got close to the Dortmund goal on several occasions. Moritz Stoppelkamp shot wide to the right of the goal from range in the 34th minute. Alexander Meyer made a close-range save to deny Manfredas Ruzgis 10 minutes later and keep the scores on level terms heading into the break.

Three changes for BVB

The Black & Yellows made three changes (Marcel Lotka for Meyer, Thomas Meunier for Mateu Morey and Samuel Bamba for Duranville) for the second half. Besong struck the side-netting from a tight angle shortly after the restart (47), but Antonios Papadopoulos found himself in the right place on the corner of the six-yard box and headed home an Ole Pohlmann free-kick two minutes later – 2-1 to BVB. Hazard spurned the next opportunity, firing straight at substitute goalkeeper Robin Benz from a good position after being set up by Reus (54). RWO subsequently created chances of their own: Mats Hummels first made a decisive intervention to deny Sven Kreyer following a misplaced pass from Papadopoulos (59). Lotka then turned an attempt from Ruzgis over the bar with his fingertips three minutes later, but the Dortmund custodian was beaten shortly afterwards as Ruzgis restored parity at 2-2 via a sturdy shot from more than 20 metres out (69). The home side almost took the lead once again six minutes later, although Rinor Rexha’s curling effort missed the left corner of the goal. The final say fell to Samuel Bamba, who scored to seal a 3-2 win (90).

BVB: Meyer (Lotka, 46) – Morey (Meunier, 46), Süle (Lubach, 77), Hummels (Collins, 77), Bueno (Aning, 62) – Papadopoulos – Duranville (Bamba, 46), Reus (Wätjen, 77), Pohlmann, Hazard (Brunner, 77) – Besong (Rijkhoff, 62)

Goals: 1-0 Ezekwem (6), 1-1 Reus (14), 1-2 Papadopoulos (49), 2-2 Ruzgis (69), 2-3 Bamba (90)
Christina Reinke