BVB stay in touch with 6-0 victory over Wolfsburg

Boris Rupert reporting from SIGNAL IDUNA PARK

The 81,365 fans saw a Black & Yellow masterclass with goals from Adeyemi (14), Haller (28) and Malen (37) making it 3-0 at half-time. And the second period was not short of entertainment either, with Bellingham (54) and Adeyemi (59) upping the score to 5-0. Adeyemi missed out on a hat-trick when he fired a penalty over the bar (65), then Bellingham rounded off the scoring with four minutes to go.

The scenario:   
FC Bayern had laid down a marker with a 2-1 victory in Bremen on Saturday evening and extended their cushion over Borussia Dortmund to four points. BVB went into the fourth from last round as the strongest home team of the season. VfL Wolfsburg, who held the third-best away record, had recently claimed two comfortable wins (5-1 in Bochum, 3-0 at home to Mainz) and climbed up to seventh position.

Personnel matters:   
Bynoe-Gittens (shoulder complaints), Meunier and Morey were not available, but Schlotterbeck was back in the squad (bench). There was one change compared to the match in Bochum: Wolf started in place of Guerreiro, who had not been able to train fully during the week.

Tactics: 
Wolfsburg built the play in a 3-1-4-2 with Arnold in a central position in front of the back three and then six attack-minded Wolfsburg players who pressed high and tried to force the Black & Yellows into playing long balls in their build-up play. When they were called up defensively, they transitioned to a 5-3-2 formation. BVB took to the field in their usual 4-3-3 system and mostly sought to get forward via their wing forwards of full-backs...

The match & analysis:
...perhaps in part because almost a third of the goals Wolfsburg had conceded to date had come from crosses out wide. In an extraordinarily loud atmosphere, BVB dictated the proceedings from the beginning. However, Wolfsburg not only held their own well but also gave nothing away for almost the entire opening 15 minutes.  Then Can switched the play over to the left flank, where Ryerson surged forward until reaching the box and then crossed the ball. Adeyemi beat Guilavogui and headed home to make it 1-0 (14).

At the other end the seemingly offside Wimmer broke through only to be denied by Kobel, with Hummels turning Kaminski's follow-up behind for a corner. It was cleared and led to a big counter-attacking chance. Adeyemi carried the ball half the length of the pitch and threaded through to Malen, whose square ball in the box towards Brandt lacked precision – the goal was gaping (20).

It was an interesting game in which Borussia kept up the pressure and concentration levels. Hummels won the ball from Wind on the halfway line and fed Adeyemi, who pulled away from Bornauw and crossed from the left for Haller to make it 2-0 (28). Malen had a chance to make it 3-0 from Brandt's cutback but missed from a centre-right position eight metres out (32), before Kobel clawed Kaminski's shot away from the top left corner (33). Wolfsburg had chances but Dortmund were more clinical. A long ball down the right wing from Wolf opened up space for Brandt, who could not be stopped by the defence. His pinpoint cross was slotted home by Malen from six metres as BVB took a three-goal lead (37).

Borussia's desire to score goals did not drop off after the break either and with Wolfsburg continuing to compete, spaces opened up. Brandt tested Casteels (49), Süle fired narrowly wide (50) and Haller was stopped at the last moment (53). But the 80,000 BVB fans at a sold-out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK were soon celebrating a fourth goal. Bellingham could not be shaken off the ball and he pulled the trigger from over 20 metres. Casteels turned the shot onto the bar but it bounced back onto the pitch and looped into the net for 4-0 – a strange goal (54). Five minutes later, Adeyemi went clean through thanks to Brandt's through-ball but was then robbed of the ball. However, he kept up the pressure on Bornauw and the Wolfsburg player lost possession to Haller, who immediately picked out Adeyemi to make it 5-0 from eight metres.

Bellingham was played clean through by Adeyemi in the 63rd minute and was fouled by Fischer in the box. But Adeyemi fired the resultant spot-kick over the crossbar. The action continued. After numerous substitutions on both sides, Moukoko was denied by the strong reactions of Casteels after Passlack had teed him up. The keeper then had no chance against Bellingham, who controlled Brandt's pass to technical perfection and slotted into the bottom right corner for 6-0 (86).

Outlook:
BVB will enjoy home advantage again next weekend when Borussia Mönchengladbach pay a visit to SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. Kick-off on Saturday (13 May) is at 18:30 CET.

Teams & goals

Bundesliga Matchday 31
BORUSSIA DORTMUND 6-0 (3-0) VFL WOLFSBURG

Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Wolf, Süle, Hummels (Özcan, 63), Ryerson (Passlack, 76) – Can – Bellingham, Brandt – Malen (Reus, 63), Haller (Moukoko, 62), Adeyemi (Reyna, 69)
VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Bornauw, Guilavogui (Paredes, 46), van de Ven – Baku (Fischer, 46), Arnold, Kaminski (Cozza, 65) – F. Nmecha, Svanberg (Gerhardt, 65) – Wimmer, Wind (Marmoush, 65)
Substitutes: Meyer, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro, Modeste – Pervan, Ambros, Pejcinovic, Waldschmidt
Goals: 1-0 Adeyemi (Ryerson, 14), 2-0 Haller (Adeyemi, 28), 3-0 Malen (Brandt, 37), 4-0 Bellingham (54), 5-0 Adeyemi (Haller, 59), 6-0 Bellingham (Brandt, 86)
Corners: 10-6 (5-4 at half-time), chance ratio: 13-4 (6-2)
Referee: Fritz (Korb), yellow cards: – Fischer
Attendance: 81,365 (sold-out), weather: slightly cloudy, 18 degrees