Borussia Dortmund made it three wins from three friendlies courtesy of a 5-0 (4-0) victory away to SC Verl. Pohlmann, Moukoko (2) and Dahoud scored in the first half, with Aning adding another after the interval.

Prior to the friendly against SC Verl, BVB coach Edin Terzic had divided his players into two training groups: one with the internationals who commenced training at a later date, and another with the senior and youth players who have been involved since day one of pre-season and formed the squad for this friendly. Marco Reus was the only one of the established players to be reintroduced to the squad compared to the friendly in Dresden last Tuesday. He played in the central attacking midfield role behind lone striker Moukoko in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

After an opening period that was low on chances, the BVB goal machine clicked into gear in the 16th minute: Reus fed Pohlmann with a through-ball down the left flank and the U23 player cut inside before slotting the ball home right-footed to make it 1-0. Aning squandered an opportunity to double the lead following nice link-up play involving Wolf, Reus and Moukoko (21), before Hummels was denied by goalie Thiede (23). But five minutes later, goalscorer Pohlmann fed Moukoko who shook off his marker and fired home from a tight angle to make it 2-0. The forward could have completed his brace three minutes later but slid past the ball and missed the opportunity to increase the lead. The Black & Yellows were now looking much more dangerous in front of goal and could have scored through Wolf, who was kept out by Thiede at the near post (36). Dahoud eventually made it 3-0 in the 37th minute with a beautiful shot from distance after a throw-in had been headed into his path. Shortly before the break, Moukoko found himself in plenty of space and rounded off a solo run through the midfield by putting the ball past Thiede and into the net to make it 4-0 (42).

The BVB faithful were preparing to celebrate another goal four minutes after the interval, only for Hummels' header to be disallowed after the flag went up for offside. A short while later, Aning cut into the penalty area, where he was brought down and awarded a penalty kick. The Dutchman stepped up himself and slotted coolly into the bottom right corner to make it 5-0 to the Black & Yellows (54). There were numerous personnel changes on both sides during the second period, which was reflected in the balance of play. Yet BVB still created chances. Eberwein missed narrowly on the 62-minute mark, before Rothe headed a corner into the side-netting on 69 minutes. Shortly before full-time, Suver denied the hosts a consolation goal with a sliding intervention to keep the score at 5-0.

BVB: Meyer – Passlack (Semic, 73), Papadopoulos (Suver, 73), Hummels, Aning (Bynoe-Gittens, 60) – Kamara (Pfanne, 73), Dahoud (Michel, 73) – Wolf (Bueno, 73), Reus (Eberwein, 46), Pohlmann (Rothe, 46) ­– Moukoko (Fink, 60)
Goals: 0-1 Pohlmann (16), 0-2 Moukoko (28), 0-3 Dahoud (37), 0-4 Moukoko (42). 0-5 Aning (54)
Christina Reinke