Borussia Dortmund have also won the second game of their Asian tour, defeating AC Milan 3-1 (2-1) after an assured performance across 90 minutes in Guangzhou. Nuri Sahin and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who bagged a brace, were the men to get their names on the score sheet.

Around 18,000 spectators had come to the Guangzhou University Stadium while unceasing rain beat down upon them to witness an enthralling encounter peppered with chances on goal as part of the International Champions Cup.

Dembélé muscled his way into the Italians' penalty area just 40 seconds into the match, but his pass failed to find Pulisic. The opening minutes were characterised by a salvo of attempts by BVB: a Dembélé shot missed the left of goal by just a few centimetres (4').

Direct and from distance: Sahin brings up the 1-0

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Manager Peter Bosz experimented with new signing Dan-Axel Zagadou on the left-hand side of a back-four, as he had done for his first friendly game in Essen, and the young Frenchman once again left a good impression in his wake. Nuri Sahin, as in all games, began in the role of a number 6 in a highly offensive 4-3-3 Borussia starting formation, with the team holding a high defensive line. And he was to score a fine goal. After having received a cross from Rodes, Pulisic pulled the ball back from the left of the 18-yard box to Sahin, who took direct aim from 20 metres out to fire the leather home into the bottom right of goal across the rain-drenched turf to open the scoring, 1-0 (17').

Two minutes later and Paletta left his foot in front of Pulisic in the penalty area after a quick one-two – spot-kick! Aubameyang converted cooly to take the scoreline up to 2-0 (20'). Nonetheless, Milan were to get a goal back quickly: Carlos Barca shot with the outside of his foot from distance to find the back of the net (24').

Overall, BVB set the tempo for the game in the first half and were very close to getting a third via Castro, but the ball was difficult to take and he shot over the bar (38').

Brace for Aubameyang after quick attack

The men from Dortmund were rewarded with a third goal in the 62' minute for what was a highly convincing performance overall, Aubameyang's second. Weidenfeller distributed with a throw, after which Castro gained 30-40 metres of ground before passing to Pulisic, and in the centre of the pitch, the goal-getter did what a goal-getter does: put the ball in the net.

Mario Götze made his second appearance on this tour of Asia, playing for around 30 minutes as he had in the 3-2 win over the Urawa Reds. Both teams went in search of more goals until the full-time whistle, but neither was to get any more. 

BVB: Weidenfeller (46' Reimann) – Piszczek (46' Passlack), Sokratis, Bartra (73' Subotic), Zagadou (63. Durm) – Sahin – Rode (63' Götze), Castro – Dembélé (63' Mor), Aubameyang (73' Isak), Pulisic (73' Schürrle)
Goals: 1-0 Sahin (17'), 2-0 Aubameyang (20', penalty-kick), 2-1 Bacca (24'), 3-1 Aubameyang (62')
Boris Rupert

BVB total!-Video: Match highlights AC Milan