Borussia Dortmund bounced back from their horrendous loss to Ajax in the Champions League by comfortably beating Arminia Bielefeld 3-1. Despite having some chances, Bielefeld were seemingly incapable of converting a chance from open play, which made the game a cakewalk for BVB. The game featured standout performances from Jude Bellingham and Mats Hummels, who both scored in spectacular fashion. Bellingham’s goal in particular was a moment of incredible quality from the 18-year-old. Overall, it was a spectacular performance from a Dortmund side that was missing Haaland as well as several other key players.

Here are our match ratings (Apologies in advance to Marin Pongracic):

Starting XI

Gregor Kobel

Nick: 8

Great performance from Kobel before the post got in his way. Hopefully, he’ll be okay to play again soon.

Paul: 7

Mats Hummels

Nick: 7.5

Bumped down to 7.5 due to the penalty he gave up, but his goal and overall performance were spectacular.

Paul: 7

Manuel Akanji

Nick: 8

Akanji had a few exceptional headed clearances today and looked comfortable all-around. I especially appreciated that marauding run he went on towards the end of the match.

Paul: 6

Marin Pongracic

Nick: 4

Pongracic had a few awful passes that led to chances that Bielefeld really should have converted. In fairness, this was the first time he has looked like a 4th choice Wolfsburg center-back this season.

Paul: 5

Not Pongracic’s best game since joining the club, and his error led to Kobel’s injury. But he’s built up enough goodwill from his quality performances before now to get away with a mediocre day.

Marius Wolf

Nick: 5

Paul: 6

Wolf is becoming a valuable part of the squad, and it’s great to see. He can fill in at a number of different spots, and so far, he has been able to make positive contributions whenever he is on the pitch.

Thorgan Hazard

Nick: 6

Good to see Marco Rose views Hazard as an option at Left Wingback. I hope to see him there more in the future.

Paul: 6

Emre Can

Nick: 8

Paul: 7

I thought Can was awful against Ajax earlier in the week, so it was nice to see him getting a chance to play in a position that better suits him and playing well as a result.

Jude Bellingham

Nick: 9

Bellingham has made a habit of scoring game-sealing goals in spectacular fashion. I hope that trend continues.

Paul: 8

I think Jude Bellingham has the same baseline quality that someone like Marco Reus offers. At a minimum, you know they’re going to work their socks off and contribute out of possession. Jude did exactly that yesterday, but also pushed the pace of the game in possession, and scored an incredible goal to top it all off.

Julian Brandt

Nick: 5

Paul: 5

Julian Brandt has shown some flashes so far this season, but I didn’t think he really offered much of note yesterday.

Marco Reus

Nick: 6

It was surprising not to see Marco step up to take the penalty yesterday, but other than that, he was just solid as usual. His defensive contributions today were fantastic.

Paul: 7

Donyell Malen

Nick: 6

Paul: 5

Another quiet game for Donyell, unfortunately.

Substitutes

Marwin Hitz

Nick: 8

Paul: 7

It is never ideal for a goalkeeper to have to come in halfway through a game, but I thought Hitz filled in admirably.

Steffen Tigges

Nick: 5.5

Paul: 5

Reinier Jesus

N/A

Axel Witsel

N/A

Lennard Maloney

N/A

Overall

Nick: 7

This was a much-needed win after the Ajax match on Tuesday. Obviously, Armenia didn’t offer a particularly high level of competition on the day, but BVB handled what was in front of them comfortably. If not for the first half errors by Pongracic and the late penalty, I would say this was as good of a performance as you could expect from this banged-up Dortmund side.

Paul: 7

The performance yesterday was a big improvement on what we saw in the week against Ajax. Arminia Bielefeld were unable to put up much resistance, but BVB still dominated the game, and never really looked in a great deal of danger. It was particularly pleasing to see Dortmund score three goals despite Erling Haaland being out injured. It would just be nice if we could keep a clean sheet!