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Three goals, two water breaks, and some pregame pyrotechnics on the first day of the season. That's the extremely short story of today's match between Dortmund and Mainz played at a sweltering Westfalenstadion.
BVB weren't at their best, but they still managed a victory against a Mainz side that had not come to Dortmund to roll over. Both sides had their chances throughout the game, but the goals only came at the beginning and end of the match.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave the hosts the lead when he leaned-in at the back post with a header to finish a cross from André Schürrle. It was nice to see a new signing immediately providing service to Dortmund's main goalscorer.
The first half featured quite a few scary moments for Dortmund at the back. Roman Burki was called into action a couple times, doing particularly well to stop Fabian Frei from equalizing not long after Auba had opened the scoring.
As was to be expected, Dortmund dominated possession throughout, but they didn't create as many chances as they certainly could have with the amount of possession they had.
There was no place in the starting lineup for Julian Weigl, but the 20-year-old looked solid when he came on in the 59th minute for Gonzalo Castro. His addition only further swung the game's possession in favor of Thomas Tuchel's side.
There were debuts for starters Schürrle, Sebastian Rode, Ousmane Dembele, and Marc Bartra. All four players did their jobs, but Schürrle was particularly influential. The German international assisted on Auba's goal and earned a penalty in the 88th minute when he was brought down by Karim Onisiwo.
Auba stepped up for the penalty and smashed it home for his second goal of the day, and thus of the young season. Robert Lewandowski scored three last night, but PEA is lurking right behind him on the scoring charts.
Christian Pulisic had a spot on the bench, but didn't see the field. Portuguese international Raphael Guerreiro made his debut when he was subbed on late in the match for Rode. Mario Gotze was not in the match day squad as he is still getting back to fitness.
Despite taking a 2-0 lead late, things became a little nervy for Dortmund when they allowed Mainz to get a goal in stoppage time. Yoshinori Muto scored after he peeled away from Sokratis in the box to head Pablo De Blasis' perfectly-placed cross past Burki. But the comeback attempt was ultimately futile as there wasn't enough time for Mainz to even get a real chance at a late equalizer.
.@Aubameyang7: "Ein guter Tag! Wir sind mit einem Sieg gestartet, das ist perfekt." #bvbm05 pic.twitter.com/a4QoRoh23C
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) August 27, 2016
Overall, Tuchel can't be too displeased with what he saw today. Good teams need to know how to grind-out wins when they're not at their best, and it feels like that's what BVB did today.
What matters most is that Dortmund got three points from a Mainz side that managed an impressive sixth place finish last season. They're no slouches, and obviously we aren't either. The performances will improve as the season grows older.
We're onto Red Bull Leipzig.