Fifth friendly match, fifth win! Borussia Dortmund ran out 6-0 winners in Bad Ragaz on Tuesday morning in their friendly match against FC Zürich. With the sun shining and the thermometer reading 24 degrees, Jadon Sancho netted a hat-trick, Paco Alcácer grabbed a brace, with the other goal coming from the boot of Thomas Delaney.

As expected, coach Lucien Favre sent his side out in his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, with youngsters Leonardo Balerdi (20) and Tobias Raschl (19) both appearing in the starting line-up. ''We had a lot of good moments, despite the fact it obviously wasn't easy for the lads playing out there for 90 minutes in the heat,'' said Favre in his post-match comments. 

It took only three minutes for the Black & Yellows to carve out their first goal-scoring opportunity of the match: Raphael Guerreiro got himself into a good position at the far-post and managed to get his head to a cross, but his effort ended up going just wide of the mark. Just three minutes later, the Borussia rearguard was called into action for the first time: a lightning-fast reaction save from goalkeeper Marwin Hitz was enough to deny Levan Kharabadze's headed effort from a corner.

Sancho and Delaney send BVB on their way to victory

Guerreiro and Sancho continuously switched from one wing to the other - and found considerable success doing so! In the 09th minute, Sancho got the opening goal of the match, with Mahmoud Dahoud providing the assist. Shortly afterwards, fellow wide-man Guerreiro tried his luck from distance, but Zürich keeper Andris Vanins was well placed to keep him at bay.

As a result of the high temperatures, play was paused twice (in the 26th and 70th minutes) so that the pitch could be watered and the players could rehydrate. Despite the challenging conditions, BVB were more than able to deliver a strong performance over the course of the 90 minutes. In the 30th minute, Guerreiro, who posed a real threat all game, received the ball out on the left wing and played in a cross for Thomas Delaney, who was able to slot the ball home from 10 metres out to bring the score to 2-0.

Brace for Spanish marksman Alcácer

BVB survived another defensive scare around the 40 minute mark, but immediately afterwards, Paco Alcácer had his chance to shine. Thomas Delaney was brought down 25 metres from goal, the referee blew his whistle and the Spaniard stepped up to the mark. The BVB number nine then fired an inch-perfect free-kick over the Zürich wall and into the top left-hand corner, leaving goalkeeper Vanins with absolutely no chance. Not long afterwards, Delaney also came close to scoring from long-range, but his 42nd minute effort ended up flying just over the bar.

Alcácer had been continuously putting the opposition defense under pressure with high-energy pressing, and just before the half-time whistle, he was able to score his second goal of the match. The Spaniard took the ball down with his back to goal, played a one-two with a teammate on the edge of the box to send himself clear on goal and was able to finish (with the help of a deflection) to make it 4-0.

Jadon Sancho in ''hat-trick mood''

With the start of the new season drawing ever closer, coach Lucien Favre chose to maintain the high intensity by not bringing on any substitutes at half-time, no doubt also influenced by the fact his side are set to play their second friendly match of the day this evening against FC St. Gallen (kick-off 19:30 CET, live on BVB-TV).

The 56th minute saw the second brace of the match for a BVB player. Marcel Schmelzer played a deft ball towards Jadon Sancho, who duly provided the finishing touches to net his second goal of the match. In the 85th minute, the England international fired a shot from 20 metres out into the bottom right-hand corner to make it 6-0 and celebrate his hat-trick. Although the hard work of the past few days increasingly made itself felt as the game wore on, the Black & Yellows were nonetheless able to deliver an attractive offensive performance which was more than deserving of the comfortable victory. 

Due to security considerations, the match was not announced in advance. The match venue, the ''Ri Au'' training ground, was not deemed to fulfill the requisite security conditions. BVB played a friendly against FC Zürich at the same venue during last year's training camp. Back then, a Jacob Bruun Larsen hat-trick helped send BVB on their way to a 4-3 win

BVB: Hitz - Piszczek, Akanji, Balerdi (67 Zagadou), Schmelzer – Delaney, Dahoud – Guerreiro, Raschl (79 Pherai), Sancho – Alcácer

Goals: Sancho (09), Delaney (30), Alcácer (38), Alcácer (45), Sancho (56), Sancho (85)