Match Report: Dortmund Stroll to 5-0 Win Over Union Berlin

In a bit of a revenge game for BVB, Borussia Dortmund sprinted to a 5-0 win over Union Berlin inside the Westfalenstadion. Jadon Sancho, Erling Håland, Marco Reus, and Axel Witsel were all the goalscorers for Dortmund in the route of Union, moving the squad into third in a very tight Bundesliga title race.

Håland earned his first Dortmund start as BVB came out with the 3-4-3, shifting Reus to the right wing and sending Thorgan Hazard to the bench. Despite coming back from his injury, Dan-Axel Zagadou started today’s match on the bench before coming on in the 64th minute for Achraf Hakimi. Hazard also came off the bench for Reus in the 71st minute, while Giovanni Reyna entered for Håland in the 77th minute.

The Black and Yellows scored the first two goals of the contest in the first 20 minutes. Sancho attempted a pass into the box that was cut out by the Union defense. Julian Brandt, who was MOTM for myself and many of the FTW writers, put in an excellent tackle to win the ball back for Sancho, and the Best Englishman in Germany cut inside and took a deflected shot for the opener in the 13th minute.

Håland made it 2-0 in the 18th minute as he got his foot to a driven cross across the goal from Brandt right in front of the Yellow Wall, and the young Norwegian’s scintillating run of form has continued into his first Dortmund start, and without a true striker (that can stay healthy) BVB wouldn’t be back in the race for the Meisterschale. Dortmund had numerous chances moving forward in the first half, and with better finishing or more selfish play they’d have been up three, maybe four goals.

Dortmund continued to look shaky into the second half, playing sloppy on the ball and comfortable to build possession rather than taking the action to Union. Union were happy to play the part of a team in over their heads in a hostile environment, as they were incredibly careless with possession in their own half. Union gave the ball away several times and practically handed the game to Dortmund, and in the 66th minute their carelessness bit them in the ass when Union goalkeeper Rafał Gikiewicz fouled Håland inside the box for a deserved penalty. Sancho had the ball on the left wing and fed Håland on a run and Håland collected the ball before taking a touch and getting clipped by Gikiewicz. Marco Reus stepped up to the spot and finished top left for the third goal.

Shortly after, Witsel made it 4-0 with a tidy finish. Dortmund were off and running on the counter and Håland collected the ball from Sancho, drawing defenders to free up a return pass to Sancho. The winger crossed the ball into the box for Witsel, and all the Belgian had to do was drag his foot under the pass for the finish into the top of the goal.

BVB was on the attack again in the 76th minute, as Sancho passed the ball into the box for Brandt, and Brandt beautifully backheeled it for Håland. Håland struck the ball with power and it found its way into the net despite Gikiewicz getting a touch to the ball.

It was the third consecutive match where Dortmund scored five goals, and this team has looked completely different going forward with a true striker. It sucks that Paco is no longer at Dortmund, not only as a person but as another scoring threat off the bench, but Håland is a completely different player from Alcácer and has given this team new life and belief that they can

Dortmund will travel for their next two matches, heading to struggling Werder Bremen for the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday, and they’ll head to the BayArena on Saturday for a match against fifth-place Bayer Leverkusen.