Matchday 13 of the Bundesliga season saw Borussia Dortmund make up for last week's defeat at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt by beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-1 (2-1) to narrow the gap to the top of the table.

81,360 fans at a sold-out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK were treated to a spectacular start, with Raffael firing Gladbach ahead (6) before Aubameyang hit back immediately (7) and Piszczek completed the turnaround by heading home Dembélé's corner after a quarter of an hour. After the interval Dembélé (64) and Aubameyang (68) deservedly extended that lead. Special mention goes to Marco Reus, who set up BVB's first, third and fourth goals.

Dennis-Julian Gottschlich reporting

The scenario:
It was seventh versus 13th. Both teams were not quite meeting their own expectations domestically: BVB had eight points fewer than at the same stage last season, while Gladbach had six fewer. Dortmund had won three of their previous four matches against Mönchengladbach and thus went into the game with the marginally better head-to-head record (31 wins, 29 defeats, 28 draws).

Watch all the match videos on BVBtotal!

Personnel matters:
BVB were without Bürki (broken hand), Guerreiro (muscular complaints), Bender (fitness), Subotic (training programme) and Park (back). Gladbach, on the other hand, were without Dominguez (rehab), Doucouré (fitness programme), Herrmann (ankle), M. Schulz (strain of the hip flexor), Traoré (torn tendon in the groin) and Drmic (cartilage damage). Thomas Tuchel made four changes to the team that played last week, with Weigl, Götze, Schürrle and Ramos dropping to the bench to be replaced by Bartra, Reus, Dembélé and – for the first time in the Bundesliga this season – Sahin, who unfortunately had to be substituted off injured after 36 minutes.

image
Nuri Sahin made his first Bundesliga appearance of the season but had to come off injured after 36 minutes. As he made his exit he thanked the fans, who chanted his name in return.

Tactics:
Thomas Tuchel's XI took to the field in a 3-4-3 formation. In front of the back three of Ginter, Sokratis and Bartra, Castro and Sahin pulled the strings in defensive midfield. They had five players to pick out in attack, as Piszczek and Schmelzer pushed forward level with Dembélé and Aubameyang when BVB had the ball, while Reus hung back and emerged from deep. Gladbach lined up a 5-2-3 system. The three forwards of Stindl, Raffael and Hazard formed the first line of defence, and often switched positions. When they had possession, the two full-backs Korb and Wendt moved forward to join Kramer and Dahoud in midfield. 

image
Piszczek engages in an aerial battle with Elvedi. The Pole made it 2-1 after 15 minutes.

The match & analysis:
The match sprang into life from the first whistle, with both teams providing the spectators with an offensive spectacle par excellence which yielded three goals in the first 15 minutes – two for BVB and one for Gladbach. The first incident of note came after exactly 46 seconds when Sommer thwarted BVB's first chance by intercepting Reus' pass to Aubameyang. Four minutes later, the Gabon international rounded the Gladbach custodian but, with the angle extremely narrowly, could only play the ball across the six-yard box, and Elvedi cleared. BVB continued to press but it was Mönchengladbach who took the lead against the run of play two minutes later, breaking the deadlock via their first counter-attack. Dahoud fed Wendt on the left and, when the latter's cross was cleared into Raffael's path by Bartra, the Brazilian drilled a low effort into the bottom-left corner from 17 metres (6).

Dortmund, though, did not let their heads drop for a second and restored parity directly from kick-off. Dembélé played a fine ball to Reus on the edge of the area, who touched it on for Aubameyang to fire a powerful effort straight into the bottom corner from 15 metres just 59 seconds after Gladbach's opener. And the hosts didn't stop there, completing the turnaround following the first corner of the game after 15 minutes. Dembélé's outswinger was met by Bartra, who flicked the ball towards goal for the perfectly-placed Piszczek to head home.

Dembélé extends lead

image
Marco Reus set up the fourth.

After such a frenetic start to the match a breather was in order – both for the spectators and for Gladbach, who subsequently looked more solid at the back but continued to sit deep and let the Black and Yellows come at them in a bid to enforce their usual counter-attacking style. However, such forays forward were few and far between and never really threatened. BVB, on the other hand, remained in firm pursuit of a third, which Reus would have provided if his effort had not been thwarted by outstanding defensive work from Elvedi (33) and the ensuing corner had not been headed millimetres over by Ginter (34).

After the break the fans at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK were treated to another entertaining half of Bundesliga football, in which BVB remained patient and continued to wait for the chances to come their way while simultaneously remaining alert at the back. Reus scored from a flick shortly after the interval but his goal was disallowed for offside (49). A short while later Sokratis almost scored an own goal from an attempted clearance (53), before Christensen headed the ensuing corner narrowly over Weidenfeller's goal (54). That double chance aside, however, it was BVB who looked the likelier of the two teams to score. Aubameyang missed on two occasions (56, 63), with Reus also failing to hit the target (62). But a goal did finally come through Dembélé, who outmanoeuvred Dahoud and Christensen on the edge of the box after being fed by Reus and shot low into the corner (64).

Aubameyang finishes following fantastic link-up play

The real highlight came four minutes later. Dembélé was again in the thick of the action, rounding three opponents before picking out Reus, who accelerated into the penalty area and past half of the Gladbach rearguard. From there he flicked the ball spectacularly backwards towards Aubameyang, who made it 4-1 with his 15th goal of the season (71). Borussia Dortmund subsequently dropped a couple of gears and kept the match under control, while Borussia Mönchengladbach produced no other moments of note. Shortly before the final whistle Sommer then denied Pulisic (89).

Watch all the match videos on BVBtotal!

Prospects:
On Wednesday Borussia Dortmund will travel to Madrid for their final UEFA Champions League group match, where they will battle it out with Real for top spot in Group F. A point would be enough for BVB to seal pole position. Next Saturday (10/12, 15:30 CET) sees Thomas Tuchel's team return to Bundesliga action with an away trip to 1. FC Köln.

Teams & goals