Winter signing Michy Batshuayi netted a brace and provided an assist on his Bundesliga debut for Borussia Dortmund to see off a spirited Cologne side and move second in the table for at least the night.

Cologne 2-3 Borussia Dortmund

Goals: 0-1 Batshuayi (35'), 1-1 Zoller (60'), 1-2 Batshuayi (62'), 2-2 Mere (69'), 2-3 Schürrle (84')

The raucous Carnival atmosphere in the stands at the RheinEnergieSTADION wasn’t quite mirrored by the action on the pitch in the opening stages, but the game burst into life on 13 minutes when Sehrou Guirassy cut back a ball for Milos Jojic to run onto inside the box, but the former Dortmund man’s effort was weak and easily held by goalkeeper Roman Bürki. Moments later, the in-form Shinji Kagawa struck the top of the Cologne bar following Mo Dahoud’s mazy run. The deadlock was broken after half an hour, though, thanks to Deadline Day arrival Batshuayi just two days after joining the club. The Belgian smashed home a cut-back after a marauding run from left-back Jeremy Toljan to give the visitors the lead on Peter Stöger’s return to Cologne. It was the 500th goal of this Bundesliga campaign. Batshuayi thought he had a second minutes later after yet another barn-storming run from Toljan, but his strike was ruled out after consultation with the video assistant only a few miles away on the other side of Cologne.

The hosts were level just after the hour though when defender Dominique Heintz led a counter-attack after winning the ball on the edge of his own box. His effort was only parried by Bürki to allow substitute Simon Zoller to head home his first Bundesliga goal since May. Dortmund were back ahead only moments later though when Batshuayi bagged his second, tucking home under the on-rushing Timo Horn after a through-ball from Christian Pulisic. Once again, the lead didn’t last long as Jorge Mere became the second player tonight to net a maiden Bundesliga goal, with the defender flicking home a Jonas Hector corner with the back of his head. BVB wrapped the game up with a little under 10 minutes to go as Andre Schürrle’s deflected effort found its way past Horn after being fed through by Batshuayi on the break following a Cologne free-kick.

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Match stats

Batshuayi scored the 500th goal of this Bundesliga season.Schürrle scored his first Bundesliga goal in 11 months (6-2 win over Leverkusen in March 2017).Cologne failed to win a Bundesliga game under Stöger this season (D3, L11), but he remains unbeaten as Borussia coach (W3, D3).The Billy Goats have 11 points from their last seven games, scoring 11 goals. They had just three points from their first 16 under Stöger, scoring just six.Dortmund have a better record on the road this season (19 points) than at home (15).The 5-0 loss in the reverse fixture was Cologne’s highest defeat ever under Stöger and also their first loss to BVB since promotion in 2014 (W2, D4).

Line-ups

Cologne: Horn – Sörensen, Mere, Heintz, Hector – Clemens (Zoller 46’), Höger (Pizarro 87’), Özcan, Jojic – Terodde, Guirassy (Cordoba 63’)
Unused subs: Kessler, Maroh, Lehmann, Koziello
Absentees: Klünter (suspended), Bittencourt (groin), Handwerker (broken hand), Queiros (neck), Osako (illness)
Coach: Stefan Ruthenbeck

Dortmund: Bürki - Piszczek, Sokratis (c), Toprak, Toljan – Dahoud (Guerreiro 63’), Weigl, Kagawa – Pulisic (Sancho 72’), Batshuayi, Schürrle (Akanji 87’)
Unused subs: Weidenfeller, Sahin, Castro, Isak
Absentees: Durm (ankle), Yarmolenko (tendon), Philipp (knee), Schmelzer (calf), Rode (pelvis), Götze (back)
Coach: Peter Stöger

Watch: Batshuayi: "Everything is perfect"

As it happened