SHARE
COPY LINK

FOOTBALL

Dortmund in second after win over Wolfsburg

Japan star Shinji Kagawa and Germany teenager Mario Götze turned on the style on Saturday, as Borussia Dortmund hammered VfL Wolfsburg 5-1 to keep the pressure on German league leaders Bayern Munich.

Dortmund in second after win over Wolfsburg
Photo: DPA

Kagawa set up both the first and fourth goals for Dortmund, as well as netting one of his own, while Götze scored twice as defending champions Dortmund romped to an impressive home win.

Borussia’s victory puts them second and trims Munich’s lead to two points at the top ahead of their game against bottom side Augsburg on Sunday.

“That was a really good performance with great counter-attacking and pin-point passes,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.

“A touch of arrogance saw us lose the clean sheet, but the team responded immediately.”

The win came at a price as defender Neven Subotic is expected to miss the next six weeks, including Champions League games against Arsenal and Marseille, with a fractured cheekbone.

The hosts took the lead on 13 minutes as Kagawa played Gözte into the penalty area for the 19-year-old to rifle his shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

Kagawa made it 2-0 just before half-time, when he was put into space by Poland striker Robert Lewandowski and the Japanese winger fired past Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

Former Arsenal and Barcelona star Alexander Hleb, who was making only his second appearance after signing for Wolfsburg at the start of the season, kept 2009 German champion Wolves in touch with a goal on 59 minutes.

But a header from midfielder Sven Bender two minutes later put Dortmund back into a 3-1 lead before Kagawa produced a defence-splitting pass from deep which put Lewandowski free to fire past Benaglio on 66 minutes.

Götze completed the rout 12 minutes from time, as Dortmund look to be back to their best after a slow start to the season.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

https://twitter.com/GravesenFumado/status/1764242481984491822

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

SHOW COMMENTS