U23s blow away Düsseldorf with powerful attacking display

The pre-match scenario: Borussia Dortmund's opponents on Sunday afternoon had already played five matches in the Regionalliga West: coach Nicolas Michaty's charges had amassed seven points and sat in eighth place. Meanwhile, the Black & Yellows were down in 12th place.

Personnel matters: Sunday afternoon's game came too soon for Steven Ruprecht, who only joined the club on Friday and had not yet received the necessary clearance to play. Mike Tullberg made one change to the starting XI that faced TuS Haltern last time out, with Steve Tunga replacing Leonardo Balerdi at the heart of defence.

The first half: Both teams adopted a high-tempo approach from the outset, which made for an end-to-end encounter with lots of possession turnovers. It was the visitors who had the first chance of the match, with Lofolomo firing wide from distance. Dortmund, meanwhile, opened the scoring from their very first shot on the Düsseldorf goal: Taylan Duman regained possession in midfield and picked out Magnus Kaastrup, who in turn found the completely unmarked Chris Führich in the penalty area. The midfielder beat visiting goalkeeper Okoye from close range to put the Black & Yellows 1-0 up in the 11th minute.

The hosts were firmly in the ascendancy in the period that followed and got their reward when they doubled the advantage in the 24th minute, Steffen Tigges firing past Okoye after being brilliantly set up by Chris Führich. It was the third goal in four matches for the new signing from Osnabrück. BVB had fully settled into their attacking rhythm by this point and were overwhelming the Düsseldorf rearguard with their quick offensive play.

BVB kept the game under control and looked dangerous going forward, with a Tobi Raschl effort from distance (39) and a double chance following a corner (40) almost bringing about a third goal before the interval. At the other end, BVB shot-stopper Oelschlägel was in excellent form and dealt well with the few shots that came his way.

The second half: The BVB game plan at the beginning of the second half was to finish off Fortuna as soon as possible. Their first chance came when Düsseldorf defender Oberdorf headed a cross from Tunga towards his own goal, forcing custodian Okoye to make a lightning-quick save to prevent an own goal. Another narrow miss came in the 58th minute when Boyamba narrowly failed to convert a Finnsson cross.

BVB were much closer to adding a decisive third than Düsseldorf were to pulling a goal back, but a moment of carelessness in possession from the home side allowed Dustin Willms to narrow the deficit to 2-1. However, the Black & Yellows quickly recovered from the setback and went 3-1 ahead when a long ball from Chris Führich through the middle beat the entire Düsseldorf defence and played Steffen Tigges through on goal. He got the better of Okoye in a one-on-one and slotted home.

The victory was clinched with a quarter of an hour remaining when Joseph Boyamba and Steffen Tigges linked up brilliantly before playing the ball to the excellent Chris Führich, who worked his way past another opponent and extended the lead to 4-1. Shinta Appelkamp did pull another goal back for the visitors in the 84th minute but it was too little too late, and BVB comfortably saw out the remaining minutes to claim their second win of the season. The victory saw them climb up to ninth in the table.

The reaction of BVB boss Mike Tullberg: "I need to pay a huge compliment to my team. We've had a lot of absences to contend with; you could see that at times as we had a few slight problems in defence. Our aim was to force our own luck. We switched the play outstandingly four times, in part thanks to individual quality. I think the win was deserved."

BVB U23s: Oelschlägel – Tunga, Rente, Hippe, Finnsson – Raschl (Hober, 68), Duman, Führich (Wanner, 76) – Kaastrup (Rizzo, 75), Tigges, Boyamba (Relucio, 88)

Goals: 1-0 Führich (11), 2-0 Tigges (24), 2-1 Willms (64), 3-1 Tigges (70), 4-1 Führich (74), 4-2 Appelkamp (84)