Champions League Group D with a dominant 4-0 victory at
Galatasaray on Wednesday.
Jurgen Klopp's men produced a trademark display of powerful
counter-attacking football and the game was essentially out of
sight by half-time as Dortmund raced into a three-goal lead at
the Turk Telekom Arena.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring when he
applied the finishing touch to Marco Reus' excellent low delivery
and the Gabon international doubled his tally shortly before the
20-minute mark.
Reus then put Dortmund in firm control in the 41st minute with
a stunning long-range effort.
There was a sour note for Dortmund when Sven Bender was
forced off with an apparent elbow injury in the second half, but
Adrian Ramos' goal a minute after coming as a substitute
completed the rout.
The victory was a welcome relief for Dortmund who suffered
their fifth defeat in eight Bundesliga matches this season at
Cologne on Saturday.
However, Dortmund continue to excel in Europe and their third
pool victory means another win in the return match with
Galatasaray on November 4 will confirm their spot in the
knockout stages.
It is a completely different story for the hosts, though, who have
just one point and face an uphill task to progress.
Dortmund were ahead after just six minutes when Henrikh
Mkhitaryan set Reus free down the left and his excellent centre
across the penalty area was side-footed home at the back post
by Aubameyang.
Galatasaray pushed forward in search of an equaliser, with Alex
Telles a threat on the left, but the visitors were a constant threat
on the counter-attack and the tactic yielded a second goal in the
18th minute.
Mkhitaryan released Lukasz Piszczek beyond left-back Telles on
the right and the Poland defender picked out the unmarked
Aubameyang, who adjusted his feet well to sweep beyond
Fernando Muslera from just outside the six-yard box.
Dortmund were finding gaps in the home defence with ease and
Shinji Kagawa should have done better when he shot tamely at
Muslera when one-on-one, while Aubameyang wasted a chance
for his hat-trick when he inexplicably hit the post with the goal
gaping from Mkhitaryan's delivery.
However, the third arrived four minutes before half-time when
Reus let fly with an unstoppable 25-yard shot that crashed over
Muslera's despairing dive and in.
Dortmund had to replace Bender with Matthias Ginter in the
55th minute, but it failed to disrupt the away side's flow and
Reus should have hit the target when his half-volley deep inside
the penalty area flew high into the stands.
The Germany international wasted another chance when he sho
straight at Muslera from the edge of the box, before Kagawa
dragged wide from 20 yards after showing neat foot work.
But Ramos capped the result in the 83rd minute as he collected
fellow substitute Ilkay Gundogan's throughball and kept his cool
to give Dortmund a huge shot in the arm ahead of a home game
against Hannover when they return to domestic action this
weekend.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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