A Jonas Hofmann goal was enough to give Borussia Dortmund a slender lead in their UEFA Europa League third round qualifier. Thomas Tuchel took charge of his first competitive Dortmund match and will have been pleased to take a first-leg advantage back to the Signal Iduna Park.
It could've been a lot different with Wolfsberger AC having very good chances of their own - opportunities that they really should have taken.
New arrivals on show
There were appearances for new signings Roman Bürki, Julian Weigl and Gonzalo Castro. Weigl being particularly impressive, looking very composed in a defensive midfield position. Bürki was called into action on several occasions as the Germans were lucky to come away with a clean sheet.
In a fairly dull game, both teams had plenty of chances but the accuracy wasn't of the highest standard. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang nearly broke the deadlock in the second minute, but his effort went just wide.
Dortmund open the scoring early on
After a fairly quiet opening, Dortmund took the lead in the 16th minute. Aubameyang played in Henrikh Mkhitaryan down the left who squared the ball to an un-marked Jonas Hofmann, to tap in from just inside the penalty area.
Hofmann nearly doubled his and Dortmund's tally just afer the break when his low drilled shot was well saved by Alexander Kofler.
Wolfsburger had a glorious chance to equalise but Thomas Zundel hit his effort way over the crossbar, when one-on-one with the Dortmund 'keeper.
Hosts unlucky not to score at least
A lapse in concentration nearly cost Dortmund, but the hosts were unable to take advantage, seeing two efforts blocked.
From the resulting corner, Mkhitaryan cleared a powerful header off the line to keep the lead. The pressure was mounting on the travelling side and had that have been last season, Dortmund may have crumbled and conceded.
The German side had the ball in the back of the net for a second time but it was correctly ruled out for offside.
Aubameyang would have doubled the lead, but he was wrongly called offside when he was one-on-one with the opposition 'keeper.
Boris Hüttenbrenner nearly drew the hosts level with five minutes remaining but his powerful header was straight at Bürki. Nobody was there to score the rebound and Dortmund survived another scare.
Despite the various chances the Austrian side had, Tuchel's side managed to see out the remainder of the match with a clean sheet and a 1-0 victory. Tuchel would've been disappointed by the second-half performance and will be demanding more from his side as they prepare for the new Bundesliga season.
The teams meet again for the second leg on next Thursday, August the 6th at the Signal Iduna Park.