Borussia Dortmund demolished Borussia Mönchengladbach in stunning style with Maximilian Philipp and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang the main architects of the carnage.

Aubameyang scored a hat-trick after Philipp’s opening brace. Lars Stindl pulled the score back to 5-1 – the first goal Dortmund have conceded in the league this season – but the sixth was scored superbly by Julian Weigl.

The win means Dortmund will stay top of the Bundesliga, overtaking TSG 1899 Hoffenheim following their win earlier in the day, and they are now three points clear of Bayern Munich.

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Gladbach resist much-changed Dortmund early on

Following Wednesday’s win against Hamburger SV, and with a date with Real Madrid coming next week, Peter Bosz made five changes to his team, including handing a first start of the season to Weigl. Nuri Sahin and Andriy Yarmolenko were amongst those withdrawn to the bench. With no European football to worry about for Dieter Hecking, he made just one alteration to the team from the 2-0 win against VfB Stuttgart with Fabian Johnson replacing Patrick Herrmann.

Early on, Gladbach resisted what has, for the most part, been a rampant Dortmund attack so far this season. The Foals even had the first meaningful chance, although Thorgan Hazard’s shot after charging forward was forced away by Roman Bürki, who came into this game having failed to concede a single goal in the five Bundesliga matches Dortmund have played.

The hosts began to wrestle control eventually though, and after Christian Pulisic had an effort put over via Jannik Vestergaard and Tobias Sippel, there were two superb chances for Aubameyang. First, Ömer Toprak’s long ball was headed on to the Gabonese striker by Mario Götze, but a weak shot was sent wide by Sippel. He then volleyed into the post from the following corner from Götze.

Philipp and Aubameyang give Dortmund lift-off

The first goal shortly followed, but Aubameyang himself would have to settle for the assist. He was sought out brilliantly by the returning Weigl, with Aubameyang cross it in and Philipp, another of the men brought into the starting 11, arrived centrally to volley past the stand-in goalkeeper Sippel, who was covering for the injured Yann Sommer.

Philipp almost returned the favour just after, but Aubameyang couldn’t convert with Vestergaard proving enough of a nuisance. Soon after, ex-Dortmund defender Matthias Ginter gave the ball away to ex-Gladbacher Mahmoud Dahoud, who found Jeremy Toljan to set up another for Philipp. This time the former SC Freiburg man fired into the top corner.

The Foals had two chances in the later stages of the half to get back into it, but Stindl’s shot was easily saved by Bürki before Hazard was denied by the keeper before putting the rebound over.

Aubameyang had missed another good chance in that time, with Sippel diverting his shot onto the woodwork, but he wasn’t to be denied for long. A superb defence-cutting ball from Sokratis found Philipp, with his cross put in by Aubameyang to finally get his goal. Gladbach were being blown away.

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Aubameyang completes hat-trick but Bürki finally beaten

Dortmund were toying with their near-neighbours now, and scored a fourth minutes after the restart. Götze found Aubameyang with his free-kick. He was completely unmarked, with Ginter going off in a different direction, and he struck with his head into the post again. Luck was with him, as the ball returned to him like a boomerang and he scored with the second go.

Gladbach hadn’t been completely deflated, with Denis Zakaria going wide and Hazard putting Bürki into action again, but another mistake cost them dear. Dahoud again took advantage of a mistake, this time from Vestergaard, unlocking Aubameyang once more. The Danish defender recovered well to almost force Aubameyang away from goal, he was having none of it though, and finished with ease to complete his hat-trick.

It was now the same score that Dortmund had beaten Gladbach’s biggest rivals 1. FC Köln by last Sunday, but it wouldn’t remain intact, and neither would their superb defensive record. Hecking’s side came forward again in search of a goal, and this time got one. Hazard played it across to Stindl, off the foot of an unlucky Weigl, with the German international finally becoming the first man to beat Bürki in the Bundesliga this season.

Unsurprisingly Dortmund did let up some of the pressure, with the European champions coming to town on Tuesday. Yet still they managed to score a sixth goal. A good attack appeared to have been halted, the ball landed from the air onto the back of former Dortmund man Jonas Hofmann. It fell to Weigl, who met it with a brilliant hit to cap his comeback and score his first Bundesliga goal.

That was the end of the torture, although Hofmann struck just wide with the final kick of the game to miss out on another consolation. But Dortmund have now scored 14 games in the last week alone, and are looking even more like a side that can finally end Bayern’s domination over the league this season.

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