Henrikh Mhitaryan's 20-yard thunderbolt helped Borussia Dortmund claim an important victory over a stubborn Hannover 96 side. The visitors never really troubled BVB, who deserved the win.
After missing the chance to close the gap on Bayern Munich last weekend, Borussia Dortmund responded with a 3-1 Pokal triumph over VfB Stuttgart. With Thomas Tuchel's men still battling on three fronts, the BVB boss decided to rotate. Neven Subotic, Gonzalo Castro and Shinji Kagawa came in for Sokratis, Erik Durm and the injured Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Things were getting no better for Thoms Schaaf's side, with defeat against 1. FSV Mainz 05. Ceyhun Gülselam, Miiko Albornoz, Salif Sané, Kenan Karaman and Artur Sobiech came in for the injured Christian Schulz, Hugo Almeida, Adam Szalai and benched Hotaru Yamaguchi and Manuel Schmiedebach, in a bid to change their fortunes.
Tough, turgid first half
Unsurprisingly, Dortmund were in control of possession and territory early on. Hannover were reduced to defending on their own 18-yard line, with the hosts tightening their grip on the game. They were also unlucky to not take the lead in the opening exchanges as Ron-Robert Zieler made a brilliant save to deny Marco Reus from close range.
Reus came closer still on the 20 minute mark, when his free-kick arrowed over the wall and came back off the bar. Zieler remained unmoved, but was soon parrying the winger's header away from danger. While the pressure was all on the goalkeeper and his defenders, Hannover's attackers were mere by-standers through-out.
The late exchanges in the half brought a rare chance for Hannover, as Andre Hoffmann headed straight at Roman Bürki. While that save was routine, Zieler's save to deny a late Ilkay Gündogan drive from range. Despite Dortmund's dominance, the fans' frustrations at the break were clear.
Mkhitaryan magic lights up the match
The start of the second half looked like the home fans would be subjected to similar feelings of disappointment, but turned into jubilation just before the hour mark. Henrikh Mkhitaryan picked the ball up midway inside the Hannover half, before cutting inside and unleashing a rasping drive. The shot swerved into the bottom left corner, leaving Zieler powerless to prevent the Armenian from notching a deserved opener.
Dortmund then began to take the sting out of the game, in a bid to curb any immediate motivation that Hannover would have. That worked to great effect, though neither side looked like adding to the score-line and both made substitutes to try and alter the game in their favour.
One of those replacements, Julian Weigl, had the best chance in the final quarter. He sent a curling shot just wide, thanks to a deflection off Hiroki Sakai, as BVB played down the clock to secure an important win and put the pressure back on Bayern. The gap at the top has been cut to five points, though Hannover are now six points from safety after Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen drew one-all.