VfL Wolfsburg 0-2 Borussia Dortmund: patience pays off for BVB

Dortmund keep up the pressure on league leaders Bayern Munich as they close the gap at the top to one point ahead of Bayern's match with Frankfurt.

Dortmund players celebrate after Dortmund's Portuguese defender Raphael Guerreiro (L) scored the opening goal during the German first division Bundesliga football match Vfl Wolfsburg vs Borussia Dortmund in Wolfsburg, on May 23, 2020. (Photo by Michael Sohn / POOL / AFP) / DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND/OR QUASI-VIDEO (Photo by MICHAEL SOHN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

By Ciaran Wiseman23 May 2020 16:30 BST

Borussia Dortmund made it two wins from two as they comfortably defeated Wolfsburg at an empty Volkswagen Arena on Saturday afternoon.

In a first half absent of many clear goal scoring opportunities, the visitors took the lead shortly after the half hour mark.

A slick passing move ended with Thorgan Hazard squaring for Raphael Guerreiro to pass the ball into an empty net.

Dortmund created one more opening before the interval, but Hazard's first time effort form the edge of the box pulled wide of the post.

Wolfsburg were almost level immediately after the restart when Wout Weghorst slipped in Renato Steffen, but the Swiss forward clipped the top of the bar when one-on-one with compatriot Roman Burki.

Steffen found the target in the 62nd minute with a rasping volley from the edge of the box, however, it was straight at Burki who parried the ball away to safety.

BVB had to wait until the 71st minute to create their first chance of the second half as goalscorer Guerreiro saw his deflected strike flash across the face of Koen Casteels' goal.

Lucien Favre's side did double their lead, though, with just over 10 minutes to play as substitute Jadon Sancho skipped past a number of challenges before teeing up Achraf Hakimi to finish.

The assist was English winger Sancho's 16th in the Bundesliga this season.

More drama was to follow moments later as Wolfsburg substitute Felix Klaus was shown a straight red card for a seemingly innocuous challenge on Manuel Akanji.

The 27-year-old playmaker was dismissed after a VAR review by referee Daniel Siebert.

Takeaways from the match

Patience pays off

In a game of few chances, Dortmund had to wait for opportunities to breach the Wolfsburg backline, taking both of their clear cut chances.

In the second half, they withstood considerable periods of pressure for the hosts, biding their time before pouncing to double their lead late in the game.

Super-sub Sancho

Last weekend, Jadon Sancho made little impact off the bench during a ten minute cameo as Dortmund cruised to victory.

This time out, and having been deployed from the sidelines earlier than last time out, the English winger showed exceptional control as he dribbled through the heart of the Wolfsburg defence to set up his side's second goal.

Player of the match - Thorgan Hazard

One point of interest from last weekend's fixtures was that Thorgan Hazard's match contributions were equal to older brother Eden's for the whole season and he once again impressed this time out.

Dortmund's attack seemed to spark into life when the Belgian got on the ball and his fine dummy opened up the defence before he slid the ball to Raphael Guerreiro for the opener.