Borussia Dortmund have picked up their first win in their first pre-season friendly: BVB travelled to Westfalia Rhynern on Wednesday and beat the Oberliga outfit 7-0 (3-0). Reus (2), Besong (2), Rijkhoff, Blank and Aning scored the goals for the Black & Yellows.

With the international players only starting their pre-season with the performance diagnostics at the weekend and Karim Adeyemi, Youssoufa Moukoko, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens plus new signing Felix Nmecha staying in Dortmund following their injuries, players from the U23s and U19s made up the numbers in the squad for the friendly in Hamm – as they have done in recent training sessions. BVB coach Edin Terzic sent a starting XI consisting of senior and youth players onto the pitch in a 4-1-4-1 formation.

The Bundesliga club seized the initiative from the beginning against the Oberliga outfit and carved out their first opportunity in the sixth minute, but Samuel Bamba fired at opposition goalkeeper Christopher Sander. Then Thorgan Hazard was caught by surprise and could not get the ball over the line (7). A minute later, Thomas Meunier narrowly failed to meet a corner by Ole Pohlmann with a header. But the Black & Yellow superiority was soon reflected on the scoreboard: Bamba had the ball on the right flank and crossed over to Hazard on the left. The winger played it into the middle towards Marco Reus, and the former captain fired BVB into a 1-0 lead from 11 metres out (12).

BVB kept the ball and the opposition moving. In the period that followed, U19 forward Julian Rijkhoff was denied by the goalkeeper from a few metres out (17) and then struck the side-netting (21). It was Reus who was responsible for the next goal in the 24th minute, making it 2-0 with a dream strike from 18 metres. Niklas Süle also registered an attempt from distance a minute later but was not successful.

The best chance so far for the home team did not come until the 36th minute when Meunier intervened on the line after a shot by Patrice Yoann Heisinger, with keeper Alexander Meyer already beaten. Pohlmann almost made it 3-0 shortly afterwards after intercepting a pass from Sander, but fired over the bar from an unmarked position in front of the keeper (41). Reus then turned provider for the third goal of the game and teed up Rijkhoff, who made it 3-0 at the break (43).

Eight changes for the second half

Pohlmann, Antonios Papadopoulos and Guille Bueno were the only Dortmund players to stay on the pitch after the interval. Following a long injury lay-off, Mateu Morey made his first appearance since August 2022 (then for the U23s). But the eight substitutions did not change the balance of play: it continued to be one-way traffic towards the Westfalia Rhynern goal in the second half too. Dortmund were rewarded for their pressing in the 53rd minute when Paul-Philipp Besong rounded the goalkeeper and slotted home to make it 4-0 to Dortmund (53). Mats Hummels came agonisingly close to scoring the next goal with his head following a corner (55).

Besong completed his brace to make it 5-0, after slotting the ball over the line thanks to an assist from Julien Duranville (67). Duranville almost got himself onto the scoresheet too when he got the better of three defenders but then his shot was deflected (72). Hakan Sezer could have grabbed a consolation goal for the home side two minutes later, only for the Hamm player to strike a penalty kick awarded for a foul against the left upright. BVB instead made it half a dozen: Hendry Blank scored following a corner to make it 6-0 (84), before Prince Aning rounded off the scoring at 7-0 with three minutes of regulation time remaining.

BVB 1st half: Meyer – Meunier, Papadopoulos, Süle, Bueno – Pfanne – Bamba, Pohlmann, Reus, Hazard – Rijkhoff
BVB 2nd half: Lotka – Morey, Papadopoulos (Blank, 63), Hummels, Bueno (Semic, 63) – Michel – Duranville, Eberwein, Pohlmann (Gürpüz, 63), Aning ­– Besong

Goals: 0-1 Reus (12), 0-2 Reus (24), 0-3 Rijkhoff (43), 0-4 Besong (53), 0-5 Besong (67), 0-6 Blank (84), 0-7 Aning (87)
Christina Reinke