Borussia Dortmund's Under 23 side started the new Regionalliga West season with a 1-0 victory over Alemannia Aachen. In an intense game, centre forward Steffen Tigges scored the only goal of the game in the 54th minute.

Following a brief delay, BVB’s under23 side ran out for their first competitive game after more than 180 days. After play got underway shortly after 2 p.m., BVB coach Enrico Maassen witnessed in the first few minutes two still slightly nervous teams. Aachen enjoyed a little more of the play at first, but the Black and Yellows had the first shot on goal after about eight minutes. Defensively, BVB were well organized and waited for errant Aachen passes to counter attack after winning the ball. The game mostly took place between the two penalty areas, only very rarely did a longer ball in the penalty area arrive in a controlled fashion.

It was not until halfway through the first half that BVB enjoyed more possession of the ball and gradually started to threaten the Aachen goal. In the 35th minute, Steffen Tigges nodded on a long ball to Richmond Tachie, whose shot was blocked for a corner. Niklas Dams headed narrowly over from the resultant set play. BVB kept up the high tempo until the break and started to gain more possession in the final minutes of the first half.

Coach Maassen brought Philipp Harlass on for Aday Ercan for the second half. BVB started well after the break and carved out another good opportunity after 50 minutes through Richmond Tachie. BVB quickly rewarded itself for the good start into the second half: After 54 minutes, Kolbeinn Finnsson played a clever pass through to Steffen Tigges, who fired into the far corner of the net from the left side of the box to put BVB 1-0 ahead. The Black and Yellows wanted to increase their lead, but Alemannia had far from given up either and put in a lot of effort halfway through the second half. However, the young Borussia side defended enthusiastically and again and again went on the counter attack. BVB’s victory was finally sealed when goalkeeper Drljaca kept his clean sheet intact with a remarkable flying save in the fifth minute of added time.

Match reaction:
Enrico Maassen: "The opening game is always all about winning. It was an intense game from the very first minute. We needed a bit of time to get into our stride, but Aachen also played well. The way we started in the second half was really good. We scored the goal at a really good time. We have started positively, that was our goal. I am proud of what the team has achieved, especially in the second half."

Niklas Dams: "It was a real scrap for everyone. We had prepared ourselves for this from the very beginning. They played a lot of long balls, but we also defended strongly. We were up for the fight and deserved to win. It’s very important to win the opening game.”

BVB Under 23s: Drljaca, Bah-Traoré (73. Maloney), Dams, Weigelt, Finnsson, Krebs, Pfanne, Ercan (46. Harlass), Tachie (84. Bakir), Tigges, Wanner (67. Schmeling)
Goal: 0:1 Tigges (54.)
Timo Lammert