Haaland hat-trick sends superior BVB through to second round

Boris Rupert reporting from Wiesbaden

BVB could have been two goals up inside two minutes, but continued to create more good chances and Erling Haaland bagged a brace before the break (26, 31). The striker then added his third goal in the 51st minute to kill the contest.

The scenario:  
It was BVB's first competitive match of the new season. Hessen-Pokal winners Wiesbaden had already played 180 minutes of competitive football and had failed to find the net in both matches – though they had not conceded either. The two teams last faced off 21 years ago – in the second round of the DFB-Pokal. The Black & Yellows ran out 1-0 victors after extra time that day.

Personnel matters: 
Borussia travelled to the state capital of Hesse without Hummels, Meunier, Guerreiro, Brandt, Zagadou and Morey – who were either ill, injured or not fully fit after the EURO – and Reinier, who won an Olympic Gold Medal today.

Tactics:  
Dortmund lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with a midfield diamond. Dahoud played the holding role, while Reyna and Bellingham occupied the wider positions and Reus sat in the hole behind Tigges and Haaland. The decision to go with two strikers proved to be the right one from the beginning against a defensive-minded Wiesbaden, with SVWW's back three/five struggling to deal with either Haaland or the duo of Reyna and Reus behind him.

The match & analysis:
BVB fans were back at an away match for the first time since March 2020. And they saw their team make an impressive start with much of the play going through the dynamic Reyna. The American initiated the first major chance after only 46 seconds when he played Schulz in on the left of the box. But the left-back's shot was turned behind for a corner by a Wiesbaden player.

Reyna was the driving force once more barely two minutes later when he picked out Haaland from close to the byline on the left. But the Norwegian striker's shot from a tight angle was kept out by Gürleyen – who threw himself into the path of the ball – before his follow-up was blocked too. The ball then bounced up towards Tigges, whose first-time shot went narrowly wide. Goalkeeper Stritzel then turned a well-taken free-kick by Reus from 22 metres behind for a corner.

Wiesbaden attempted to strike via a quick counter-attack on one or two occasions, but they did not commit many men forward and the centre-back pairing of Akanji and Papadopoulos was always on hand to cut out the danger.

Playing in their 2021 cup-winning shirt, the Black & Yellows delivered a highly committed performance in their new coach's first competitive game and put a lot of the things Marco Rose had called for into practice. That was the case for the (long overdue) opening goal too. Reus drove forward through midfield and timed his through-ball to Haaland to perfection, who rounded Stritzel and slotted home to make it 1-0 (26). The Norwegian again latched on to a long ball from midfield five minutes later and proved unstoppable for the Wiesbaden defence. Shot-stopper Stritzel could not get to the ball either and caught Haaland's foot, giving away a penalty in the process. Haaland himself stepped up and picked out the bottom left corner to make it 2-0 (31).

The home side re-emerged with three new faces and four rather than five men in defence. But even their reshuffled back line could not find a way to deal with this nimble-footed Dortmund side. Reyna played a pass with the outside of his foot into the path of Haaland, who failed to beat the goalkeeper with his first attempt but then prodded the ball over the line at the second time of asking (51).

Passlack, who fired narrowly over (68), and Haaland (84), could have increased the margin of victory. But Wiesbaden had two chances too. The second period did not have the same intensity as the opening 45 minutes.

Outlook: 
The draw for the second round of the DFB-Pokal will take place at the start of September. The Bundesliga's 59 season starts on Saturday, with Borussia hosting Eintracht Frankfurt.

Teams & goals