Borussia Dortmund ended their poor run of results with a well deserved victory against mid-table FC Augsburg.
Whilst the Black & Yellows fell behind through Andre Hahn’s strike, they came from behind and goals from Thomas Delaney, Jadon Sancho and an own goal from Felix Uduokhai saw them run out 3-1 winners.
That came despite Erling Haaland hitting the crossbar with a first half penalty as Edin Terzic’s side bounced back from three games without a win and consecutive defeats at Signal Iduna Park.
Story of the match
After three games without a win, Dortmund wanted to return to winning ways against an Augsburg side who had ended a run of three defeats last weekend with a great 2-1 win against Union Berlin.
BVB made three changes from the defeat to Monchengladbach. Marwin Hitz came in in goal for Roman Burki, who had injured his shoulder during training. Delaney and Gio Reyna also joined the starting 11 in place of Emre Can and Jude Bellingham.
The chances came thick and fast early on as Dortmund made a fast start. Sancho, who played on the left hand side of the front three, was off target after seven minutes before Julian Brandt was set up by Marco Reus but Rafal Gikiewicz tipped his effort around the post. Then Haaland narrowly missed the target after a neat pass from Raphael Guerreiro.
Augsburg strike
The first goal seemed imminent – but it came at the other end. Iago crossed from the left, the ball bounced off Florian Niederlechner to Hahn around the penalty spot, who was given a bit too much space and he fired the visitors in front after ten minutes.
It came as something as a shock to Dortmund, however, the goal did not change the course of the game. BVB did not lose their composure after going behind, but rather continued to play the ball forward and put pressure on their opponents.
They were soon rewarded with their chance to restore parity when Iago was judged to have blocked Reyna’s shot with his hand. Although referee Ittrich did not initially give it, following an intervention from VAR he gave the penalty. Haaland stepped up, but only to see his effort come back off the crossbar.
BVB level
Two minutes later, the Norwegian met Guerreiro’s cross with a header, but Gikiewicz dived and turned the ball away that looked destined for the top corner. In the 26th minute, Dortmund got their well-earned equaliser. Reus whipped in a free-kick and picked out Delaney, who nodded past the Augsburg keeper.
After half time, Black & Yellows continued to play on the front foot, pressing high and giving Augsburg little space whilst creating further opportunities. Both Reyna and then Reus could not find the net after Sancho broke through the penalty area before the England starlet fired Dortmund ahead.
Sancho strikes
Having seen his team mates fail to apply the finishing touch, Sancho didn’t make the same mistake after the hour mark. Guerreiro was the provider – his seventh assist of the season – as he slipped the ball down the left to Sancho who supplied a clinical finish to make it 2-1.
Augsburg reacted by replacing all three of their forwards, but continued to be predominantly occupied with defending as BVB wanted to secure the win, but without risking too much in doing so.
Victory sealed
Terzic introduced Bellingham with 15 minutes to go, and he started the move which killed the game off with his first involvement. He found Sancho, who switched the ball to Haaland. The young striker couldn’t be stopped as he broke down the left hand side, before Uduokhai could only deflect his shot into his own goal to make it 3-1 as Borussia returned to winning ways.