MOTM Poll: BVB Kick Off the Bundesliga Season with Victory Against Bayer Leverkusen

The Bundesliga is back, and Borussia Dortmund kicked things off with a close 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. It wasn’t pretty, and in the second half Leverkusen looked like they might find an equalizer, but BVB held on to claim their first three points of the season and a clean sheet to boot!

Marco Reus scored the only goal of the game, scrambling an Adeyemi shot over the line after Hradecky and Tah failed to get it away. While BVB looked the slightly better team in the first half, Leverkusen came out firing in the second half, and started to overrun the Black and Yellows. However, they couldn’t find that equalizing goal, and with only a few minutes left, Lukas Hradecky put the game to bed when he accidentally handled the ball outside his penalty area and got himself sent off.

It wasn’t the cleanest win, but they all count, and it was these games that BVB have often struggled to see out. We’ll take it! Here are today’s nominations for Man of the Match.

Thomas Meunier

Thomas Meunier put in a really solid defensive performance today. In the first half he was there to clear everything. I don’t actually remember him putting a foot wrong. It’s exactly the kind of performances you need from players like him. Unspectacular but good.

Jude Bellingham

Jude picked up where he left off at the end of last season. It was another assured performance from the young English midfielder.

It is no surprise that he has been made BVB’s third captain, behind Marco Reus and Mats Hummels.

Nico Schlotterbeck

Last season BVB’s defense was full of holes. Gaping holes with which players were able to run clean through and score one thousand goals a game. It was clear the club needed to do something to fix the backline. Well, they did exactly that by going out and getting Niklas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck.

Sule was out injured today, but Schlotterbeck played the full 90 minutes and he looked to be the perfect antidote to BVB’s defensive woes. He was aggressive, strong in the tackle, and he was also really, really assured when in possession.

Gregor Kobel

When Dortmund started to struggle in the second half, and the pressure ramped up, Gregor Kobel stepped up to keep BVB in front. He made several key saves in the second half when Dortmund were really under the cosh. Kobel and his backline definitely earned their clean sheet.

Cast your vote for the Man of the Match below!