Borussia Dortmund brushed off the cobwebs after their big defeat to Bayern Munich last weekend to overcome VfB Stuttgart 3-0 at the Westfalenstadion on Sunday afternoon to move within a point of second place in the Bundesliga table.
The home side didn't have it all their own way in the game though as the visitors took the game to them in the first half but Christian Pulisic's fortunate goal in the 38th minute gave the hosts the lead at half-time.
Peter Stöger's side improved immensely in the second half and Michy Batshuayi added a second goal three minutes after the break, before Maximilian Philipp netted a third before the hour mark to seal the three points for the Black and Yellows.
The visitiors made a bright start to the game and should have been in front
It wasn't clear which team was fighting for European Football from the start of the game as the visitors made a bright start despite not creating many clear cut chances.
Mario Gomez did though have a great chance to put the visitors into the lead when a great free-kick was whipped into his path but he headed wide when he was unmarked at the back post and should have done much better.
Pulisic's fortunate goal gave Dortmund the lead at half-time
Dortmund really struggled to get going in the game as it looked like they were struggling to put last week's defeat behind them, but out of nowhere, they took the lead seven minutes before half-time much to the disbelief of the visitors.
Pulisic, who had looked the most dangerous player for Dortmund in the game, got the goal after Łukasz Piszczek gave him the ball on the right and from his cross into the box, the ball flew straight into the top corner of the net beating Ron-Robert Zieler in the net for the visitors.
That goal seemed to give the hosts some confidence and they almost got a second goal a few minutes later when a great one-two from Marco Reus and Nuri Sahin found Reus in the box but his volley flew just wide of the goal with the keeper beaten.
After that though the game petered out to half-time with home side in the lead in fortunate circumstances given they hadn't played well at all which would have given the visitors confidence to get back into the game in the second half.
Batshuayi added a second goal just after half-time
The problem that the visitors faced though was that the hosts weren't going to be as bad in the second half and that showed three minutes after the break when the home side got a second goal.
It was a fantastic goal to get as Batshuayi finished off the move after a great pass from Sahin found the striker in the box and he made no mistake with the finish.
Philipp added a third goal to seal all three points for the Black and Yellows
The second goal really gave the Dortmund players real confidence to play their passes and they it 3-0 just before the hour mark when Philipp put the ball into the back off the net at the second time of asking after Zieler had saved his initial shot from a great cross from Pulisic.
After scoring the third goal the hosts took their foot off the pedal a bit but they could have made it four when a great long pass from Mahmoud Dahoud found Pulisic but this time the winger was denied by Zieler.
Gomez was unlucky to not get a consolation goal for the visitors
Right at the end of the game, the visitors almost got a consolation goal when a fantastic curling effort from Gomez from the edge of the box came back off the crossbar with Roman Bürki beaten in goal.
That though was as good as it got for the visitors in the second half in terms of chances as the game finished 3-0 to the home side but the scoreline really didn't tell the story of the game as the visitors dominated the game for most of the first half but didn't make it count.