Borussia Dortmund back to winning ways under new boss Peter Stöger
Borussia Dortmund finally snapped their eight-game winless streak in the Bundesliga as they saw off Mainz on Tuesday evening in Peter Stöger's first match in charge.
Mainz 0-2 Borussia Dortmund
Goals: 0-1 Sokratis (55'), 0-2 Kagawa (89')
Mainz had the best early chance of the game, as Suat Serdar unleashed a superb long-distance effort that crashed back off the crossbar. If he was unlucky with that attempt, the 20-year-old really should have put the hosts ahead on 13 minutes, but blasted over the bar after a neat header down from Emil Berggreen. The visitors were enjoying the lion's share of possession but struggling to carve out any genuine chances, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang flashing a volley just wide following a corner. The Gabon captain was then guilty of squandering BVB's best opportunity shortly before half-time, getting in behind the Mainz defence but firing just wide with the outside of his right foot.
Dortmund began to up the tempo after the interval, with Christian Pulisic rifling a shot just over the bar after a clever one-two with Marcel Schmelzer. Stöger's men then forged ahead on 55 minutes, as Ömer Toprak headed a Shinji Kagawa free-kick onto the post, and fellow centre-back Sokratis slammed in the rebound. Raphael Guerreiro nearly added a second minutes later after Andrey Yarmolenko's cute back-heel, but his shot was straight at Robin Zentner. Mainz had a flurry of chances midway through the half, with Leon Balogun, Daniel Brosinski and Abdou Diallo all going close, but Kagawa had the final word a minute from time. Ten minutes after missing a glorious chance, the Japan international swept in following good work from Aubameyang, to finally secure Dortmund a first Bundesliga win since the end of September.
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Match stats
- Sokratis scored his second goal of the season. The first came against Stöger's Cologne in Dortmund's 5-0 home win on Matchday 4.Dortmund snapped an eight-game winless streak in the Bundesliga, their worst run in nearly 18 years. Stöger won his first Bundesliga game since another 2-0 win on the final day of last season - also against Mainz. BVB kept their first clean sheet since a 3-0 win over Hamburg on Matchday 5.Aubameyang has now had a hand in 15 goals this season, scoring 12 and setting up three more. Dortmund have won 12 of their last 15 games against Mainz.
Line-ups
Mainz: Zentner - Donati (Maxim 64'), Balogun, Diallo, Brosinski (c) - Latza, Gbamin (Hack 46'), Frei - Serdar - Berggreen, Quaison (Holtmann 76')
Unused subs: Huth, Fischer, Jairo, De Blasis
Coach: Sandro Schwarz
Dortmund: Bürki - Toljan, Sokratis, Toprak, Schmelzer (c) - Kagawa, Weigl, Guerreiro (Sahin 90') - Yarmolenko, Aubameyang, Pulisic (Dahoud 70')
Unused subs: Weidenfeller, Zagadou, Subotic, Bartra, Isak, Dahoud
Coach: Peter Stöger
Watch: Stöger: "Bosz obviously did a good job here"