Borussia Dortmund secured their first victory in 2017 against RB Leipzig as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's goal earned them three points in a 1-0 win at Signal Iduna Park.
Team news
After their 1-1 draw at Mainz 05 last week, BVB head coach Thomas Tuchel made three changes in their starting eleven. Marc Bartra, Eric Durm and Ousamane Dembélé started for Matthias Ginter, Andre Schürrle and Gonzalo Castro.
Ralph Hasenhüttl had to make three changes as Timo Werner (flu), Marcel Sabitzer (flu) and Diego Demme (flu) were not able to play. The RB Leipzig coach brought Dominik Kaiser, Rani Khedira and Davie Selke to fill the missing gaps in the starting eleven.
Dortmund impress with power-play
As expected, Dortmund began the stronger of the two sides as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang created the first chance after two minutes, serving Marco Reus who's effort was saved by RBL 'keeper Peter Gulacsi. Referee Tobias Stieler however called it off as the German International was slightly offside.
20 minutes into the match, Dortmund kept up their compact positioning and quick counter-attacks. Die Roten Bullen could not get into the game and stopped Dortmund's play with fouls as Leipzig player Bernardo was to receive the first booking in the game.
It took Dortmund 33 minutes until they finally took the well deserved lead as Dembélé made a run along the right wing, Marvin Compper and Willi Orban couldn't stop the Frenchman as the 19-year-old finally crossed the ball into the box where striker Aubameyang finished superbly with his head. Leipzig seemed shocked after Dortmund's goal as they continued to lose possession quickly which saw Dortmund dominate the vast majority of the first half.
No changes were made at the break as referee Stieler blew the whistle for the second half. RB Leipzig began with more energy and created their first opportunity just five minutes into the second half. The following corner nearly shocked die Roten Bullen; Dortmund superbly defended the set-piece and started their usual quick counter attack. This one saw Aubameyang making his way through, serving Reus just outside the box, who's effort couldn't find the back of the net.
Reus and Aubameyang miss several chances
An hour into the game, BVB again were missing out on huge chances to double their lead as Aubameyang couldn't score another one-to-one versus Leipzig 'keeper Gulacsi. Ralph Hasenhüttl had to react and brought Oliver Burke on for Selke, who should help out Leipzig to steal a point from Dortmund.
RB Leipzig however could not produce enough dangerous attempts as Dortmund continued dominating. Thus it was Reus again, who used all the space he had after a superb pass from Christian Pulisic, but yet couldn't finish once more as yet another chance went begging.
Dramatic injury time
Leipzig tried everything in attempt to get a point in Dortmund which almost worked out as Burke sent Federico Palacios-Martinez through on goal before converting what seemed to be a dramatic equaliser. However, the linesman raised his flag as the 21-year-old was just offside. Thomas Tuchel's men had earned their first victory in 2017 as Aubameyang's strike was enough to keep the three points in Dortmund.
BVB head to SV Darmstadt 98 next Saturday whilst Die Roten Bullen host Hamburger SV at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.