Hamburg record their first victory of the season away to an extremely wasteful Dortmund side. A goal from Nicolai Müller on a counter-attack was enough for the side from the North as the full-time whistle sparked wild celebrations from all the players, fans and even some of the staff.

Both sides were in need of a vital win coming into this game, despite winning away to Anderlecht in the week Dortmund lost their derby game against FC Schalke last weekend. It left in 13th place on 7 points, already 7 points behind last season’s Champions Bayern Munich. Hamburg meanwhile were arguably even more desperate for a win after obtaining only 2 points in their first 6 games leaving them bottom of the table and without a win this season.

Dortmund were still without attacking linchpins Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan as well as holding midfielders Ilkay Gündogan and Nuri Şahin. Their injury crisis has already had a serious effect on their season. Hamburg only notable absentee was keeper René Adler who was out with a knee injury.

There was a comedic moment to start the game when in the first few minutes Hamburg keeper Jaroslav Drobný was on the ball and being closed down by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Czech keeper surprised everyone by waiting until the last moment before cutting inside and making the Dortmund winger look rather foolish as he raced past him. Dortmund then had their first opportunity in the 6th minute in the form of a costless-kick courtesy of a Johan Djourou foul on Adrián Ramos. Unfortunately for the home side left-back Marcel Schmelzer put it well over.

Nicolai Müller was Hamburg’s most potent threat in the first half and his first chance came in the 11th minute when he managed to worm his way into the box and had a shot from a tight angle but could only strike the side netting. Midfielder Lewis Holtby was then booked for a challenge on Schmelzer to which he protested quite vocally but he could not sway the referee. As the first half wore on the home crowd were getting more and more frustrated as their side became increasingly wasteful with the ball. A couple of times Colombian striker Ramos was to blame. The first time he was sprinting down the wing after a lofted through ball which he should’ve controlled before driving into the box, instead the ball simply collided against his shins and went out for a corner. The second occasion cost Dortmund dearly as Hamburg scored from it.

Ramos was on the edge of the centre circle when he tried to play the ball to the near side of the pitch, instead it was intercepted by Marcell Jansen who with his first touch gave it to Müller in the centre of the park. Müller drove towards the heart of the Dortmund defence and after knocking the ball past them and racing clear he was through on goal. On the edge of the box he was pulled back by Erik Durm but still managed to square the ball to star striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga who had a pretty much empty net into which he put the ball. Hamburg then sat back and stifled the Dortmund attack seemingly content to settle for the 1-goal lead going into half-time. They did however have one more opportunity right at the death. The chance once again fell to dangerman Müller as he got the ball behind the Dortmund defence before rounding Roman Weidenfeller but the angle was too tight and Weidenfeller was able to recover and knock the ball out for a corner which the German international keeper cleared easily.

The second half started very slowly, in the first 15 minutes the only Things to report was a booking for Müller for time wasting and Miloš Jojić coming on at half-time for Sven Bender as Klopp looked to be more attacking in the second half. It all started getting really underway on the hour mark and it was started with a Dortmund costless-kick to the back post which Durm headed back across goal for Aubameyang but the Gabon winger could only head it wide under pressure from the Hamburg defence. Then Jojić was tripped for a foul on Dennis Diekmeier at the side of Dortmund’s box. From the subsequent costless-kick Holtby crossed the ball in to Heiko Westermann who had escaped his marker, Sebastian Kehl, and headed the ball towards goal. Weidenfeller reacted superbly and dove down low to push it away with a magnificent save. Diekmeier picked up an injury in the Jojić challenge and was unable to continue so Zoltan Stieber took his place.

Hamburg then had the chance to pile on even more misery when in the 68th minute they broke quickly with Stieber running down the left. It was only him and Lasogga forward but Hummels was in between the two and when Stieber tried to square it the German centre-back intercepted it. Shinji Kagawa was probably the best player on the field today. Although he didn’t have many attempts on goal he rarely gave the ball away unlike his teammates and repeatedly set up opportunities for his colleagues. One such created chance came in the 72nd minute when he had the ball on the edgo of the box and it looked like he was going to run out wide which he started to but then backheeled to Jojić who saw his effort from just outside the area fly just wide of the post.

The Dortmund defence was lax once again in the 75th minute when a Holtby corner fell to Jansen inside the box and he was allowed to control it on his chest, spin and fire just wide when he should’ve at least got it on target. Holtby then had a chance to finish the game when in the 81st minute he rounded Weidenfeller and shot from a tight angle. Unfortunately for Hamburg it was such a tight angle that it trickled across the goal and didn’t go in. Dortmund’s day can be summed with a chance that fell to Schmelzer, he received a Hamburg clearance on the edge of the box and attempted a volley which ricocheted off of substitute Ciro Immobile. Dortmund had one final chance in the 93rd minute when a cross fell to Ramos who headed it on towards Aubameyang but just before it got to the Dortmund player Djourou produced an athletic overhead clearance to deny them at the death.

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About the author
Ryan OGrady
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Japan fan who lives in NI. Aspiring Football writer on all things European Football and some Japanese football as well. Email- [email protected]. Currently writing for Total Dutch Football, World Football Weekly and Bundesliga Fanatic.