Dortmund back in the domestic groove
Dortmund - Borussia Dortmund got back to winning ways on the home front after their midweek exploits in Madrid, picking up three points on the road at cellar-dwellers FC Augsburg.
Touch of class from Reus
A ninth-minute opener from Marco Reus and a second-half brace from Robert Lewandowski wrapped up a workmanlike victory for the champions, with back-from-injury Sascha Mölders nabbing a late consolation for Markus Weinzierl's hard-battling charges. Dortmund are nonetheless still eleven points behind FC Bayern in the standings after the league leaders saw off Eintracht Frankfurt, while for Augsburg the only way remains up.
The visitors, with Sven Bender in for injured skipper Sebastian Kehl in midfield and Felipe Santana getting a first season start ahead of Neven Subotic in the centre of the defence, sought to stamp their authority on proceedings from the off and, after an early half-chance at either end, they did just that. With eight minutes on the clock, Sebastian Langkamp brought down Reus just outside the FCA box. The German international attacking talent dusted himself down and took the resultant free kick himself, planting it perfectly beyond home keeper Simon Jentzsch into the far top corner by way of the inside of the post.
Undeterred, Augsburg focused on folding their own game and a couple of minutes later BVB custodian Roman Weidenfeller was called into action to save a shot on the bounce from Matthias Ostrzolek. Torsten Oehrl could then have done better with a cross from the left by Tobias Werner as the Bavarian Swabians started to slowly get on top of the contest.
Hosts holding their own
By the half-hour mark, it was evident that this was going to be no easy run-out for the champions and on 35 minutes they had a real let-off when Oehrl fizzed a shot from the corner of the box inches over the bar with Weidenfeller stranded. The keeper then really earned his corn just before half time, pulling off a great save to a Daniel Baier snapshot. The final chance of the half of the half was BVB's though and they very nearly made it count, Mario Götze drilling Reus' cross off the inside of the post
Game effectively over
All to play for then going into the second 45, but six minutes after the restart the balanced tipped very heavily in favour of the men in yellow-and-black. Götze fed a Weidenfeller kick-out on to Lewandowski and the Polish spearhead slipped between a couple of despairing slide tackles before coolly dispatching the ball past Jentzsch with champion efficiency.
The difference between the two sides on that score was highlighted again on the hour mark, when Weidenfeller saved brilliantly from Andreas Ottl inside the box and Augsburg sub Knowledge Musona hit the post with the follow-up before firing the rebound harmlessly into the arms of the guest keeper. With just over 20 minutes remaining, there was a bit of good news for the home crowd when Sascha Mölders also came off the bench, the fit-again striker making his first Bundesliga appearance since April.
Mölders back with a bang
Barely was he on the pitch though and Lewandowski was rubbing salt in the hosts' wounds with his own second goal and Borussia's third, laying the ball on to Reus, who drew Jentzsch off his line before returning the favour, giving his team-mate the most straightforward of finishes. With eight minutes to go, Mölders marked his comeback in proper style, heading home a great ball in from the left. The former FSV Frankfurt forward came close to a second from a corner near the end, but 3-1 it finished.
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