Gameweek 4 Match Report: Borussia Dortmund vs 1. FC Koln
Borussia Dortmund continued their strong start to the Bundesliga season with a 5-0 demolition of a hapless Koln side who are still pointless and rooted to the foot of the table. The match wasn’t shy of controversy as the VAR was used on two occasions which resulted in two goals for Dortmund and Koln cried foul.
Keeping the controversies aside, Dortmund dominated the game from the get-go and their superiority even reflected in the stats as they had 74% possession and even had more shots on target than the number of shots taken by Koln. Dortmund got off to a flyer as new signing Andriy Yarmolenko, on his first league start, danced past his marker to put a cross in for the onrushing Maxi Philipp to nod in his first ever goal in Dortmund colours.
Koln continued to be passive and created a couple of chances but to no avail. Aubameyang, who had never scored against Koln in the Bundesliga, was given a glorious chance to break his duck against the Billy Goats after a brilliant layoff by Gonzalo Castro but his shot was tipped away for a corner by Timo Horn.
Koln continued to defend deep for most of the match, making the Dortmund centre-backs go the long route and frustrating the Dortmund attackers. Dortmund continued making half chances but none were dangerous enough to make the Koln defence go weak in the knees.
As it seemed that Koln would get off with just a deficit of one goal, controversy struck as Timo Horn spilled a corner and Dortmund captain Sokratis scored from the error but the referee ruled it out for a foul. But after consultation of the VAR, the referee overturned his decision and Dortmund were awarded the goal, leaving the Koln players staff in a state of complete fury.
The second half began with Aubameyang getting another chance to break his duck, but his effort sailed past an outstretched Horn and just past the far post after he was set up by Mahmoud Dahoud. Dortmund kept up the pressure and by every subsequent attack, Koln seemed more and more vulnerable.
Koln finally buckled under the pressure as Lukas Klunter handled a Yarmolenko cross in the box, and the referee awarded a penalty to Dortmund after consulting with the VAR. Aubameyang stepped up and converted the penalty, breaking his hoodoo against Koln and completed the record of scoring against every Bundesliga team except Dortmund.
In just the next move, Yarmolenko set Piszczek on the right wing and he sent in a low cross for Aubameyang to slide in and score his second of the game and send the stadium into raptures again. Dortmund were in no mood to go easy on their opponents and the clear gap in quality was there for everybody to see.
On the 67th minute, Nuri Sahin was subbed out for Julian Weigl came on for his first appearance of the season after his long injury layoff, making the day even better for every Dortmund fan watching the game.
Dortmund then added insult to injury as Dahoud and Philipp combined beautifully to get Dortmund their fifth and Philipp his second goal of the game after Dahoud danced past Lehmann and threaded a brilliant incisive pass and Philipp channeled his inner Reus to score a deft chip over the onrushing Timo Horn.
Dortmund kept up the pressure and saw a couple of more chances go begging as Dahoud tried his luck from distance and substitute Isak saw his shot from a narrow-angle go wide of the goal. Lukas Klunter had a chance to salvage a goal for Koln but Roman Burki stood tall to preserve his fourth consecutive clean sheet.
Overall, Dortmund ran riots over a fatigued Koln side and recovered very well from their mid-week disappointment at Wembley against Spurs in the UEFA Champions League whereas Koln found no solace in the league after their loss to Arsenal in the Europa League.
Dortmund are yet to concede a goal in the league and sit on top of the league, ahead of Hannover on Goal Difference. Peter Bosz has had an impressive start at Dortmund but he would avoid dwelling much into the victories and as usual, focus on winning the next game. This game also continued the record of a Dutch coach never being beaten by an Austrian coach in the Bundesliga and will have Peter Stoger wondering how to get his team back on track.
