Borussia Dortmund 4-1 RB Leipzig
Lucien Favre got his first win as BVB coach as he watched his side beat Leipzig 4-1 with all but one of the goals coming in the first half.
After being stunned by a first minute Leipzig strike Dortmund piled forward to put the game to bed before the break. It was the final match of Round One in the Bundesliga and the most eagerly anticipated. And the first 45 minutes certainly didn’t disappoint.
New coach Favre will be delighted with this win. BVB has rebuilt over the summer and is set for an assault on the title, and the whole club, owners, fans, coach and players were desperate for a fast start.
The opening day Bundesliga 2018 results saw wins for FC Bayern and Eintracht Frankfurt and BVB was in no mood to lose early ground.
Highlights of the Game
It’s the biggest stand in the Bundesliga and the Yellow Wall is legendary in its support, but the 25,000 fans in the South Stand, along with the rest of the Stadium couldn’t quite believe their eyes when Leipzig went ahead in the very first minute.
Jean-Kevin Augustin found himself with space in the box and he fired low and true into the bottom left-hand corner to stun the home crowd into temporary silence. And then a minute later Yussuf Poulson had a chance to make it two but his header flew wide.
BVB settled themselves down and gradually began to pass the ball around with some authority, and Marco Reus put Thomas Delaney through but the Danish midfielder’s shot from a tight angle was saved. But the Yellow Wall didn’t have too long to wait and it erupted on 21 minutes when Marcel Schmelzer crossed for Mahmoud Dahoud to plant his header low into the corner of the net.
Timo Werner and Emil Forsberg have been a prolific partnership up front for RB Leipzig and the Swede tried his luck from distance to put Leipzig back in front but saw his shot saved.
Then, as Leipzig looked to go in level at the break, within the blink of an eye they were 3-1 down. First, on 41 minutes the hapless Marcel Sabitzer put through his own goal, and then, on 43, new signing Axel Witsel was on hand to poke the ball home from a corner.
Marco Reus has said Witsel is the most important signing of the summer and the new man is already justifying his skipper’s faith.
The Bundesliga 2018 odds have Dortmund as clear second favourites behind FC Bayern and that looked pretty sound after a helter-skelter first 45 minutes.
Leipzig came out fighting at the start of the second half and when Werner crossed for Lukas Klostermann the defender saw his fierce shot saved in the top corner. A flurry of Leipzig corners followed and Forsberg was also denied by a good save.
But BVB weathered the storm and began to take control again towards the hour mark. Reus was at the centre of much of the hosts’ good play and Thomas Delaney came close to making it four, heading just wide from a Christian Pulisic corner.
Leipzig’s 19-year-old signing Matheus Cunha tried to conjure a comeback and he put Bruma in on the left side of the box but his shot was saved.
Reus continued to pull the strings and he created a chance for Dahoud but the German striker couldn’t get his second. And then the captain got his own reward in injury time, finishing off a fast break with a shot from the left-hand side of the box into the opposite corner, to make it a near-perfect start.
We’re only one game in, but hey, Dortmund is top of the league.
Key Statistics
The SBOBET odds had Dortmund to win at 1.82 and it was pretty much nailed on by halftime. Leipzig was well in the game with 53 per cent possession and 11 shots to 10. But it’s goals that matter and those stats are pretty damning for Die Roten Bullen.
Werner and Forsberg plundered 55 goals between then in Leipzig’s superb season, when they finished seventh in 2017, but they didn’t really get a sniff here.
There were five goals the last time Leipzig visited Dortmund but on that occasion, in October last year, they ran out 2-3 winners.
BVB has levelled things up now in recent meetings, making it two wins each and one drawn, and they’ll expect to nudge ahead in the return.
What’s next?
It’s onwards and upwards for Favre as he takes his BVB away to Hannover 96 next Friday, before entertaining Eintracht Frankfurt at the Signal Iduna Park.
RB Leipzig has a crucial Europa tie against FC Zorya, having drawn the away leg 0-0; before hosting Fortuna Dusseldorf in the Bundesliga. Despite the scoreline, Ralf Rangnick won’t panic after this display and we can expect to see Leipzig get into their stride sooner rather than later.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
