Aubameyang moves into the record books as Borussia Dortmund down Bayer Leverkusen
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brought up his 75th Bundesliga goal for Borussia Dortmund – taking a club-record 117 games to do so – as Die Schwarzgelben cemented their grip on third with a 6-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Borussia Dortmund 6-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Goals: 1-0 Dembele (6’), 2-0 Aubameyang (26’), 2-1 Volland (48’), 3-1 Aubameyang (69’), 3-2 Wendell (75’), 4-2 Pulisic (77’), 5-2 Schürrle (p.g. 85’), 6-2 Guerreiro (90+2')
Dortmund started brightly in front of their fabled Yellow Wall, with prodigal France winger Ousmane Dembele firing home the opener on six minutes after bamboozling Tin Jedvaj on the edge of the Leverkusen box. Dembele had an indirect hand in the second, too, earning the corner that Aubameyang ultimately converted for 2-0 midway through the half. Bayer’s Karim Bellarabi - the scorer of the Bundesliga 50,000th goal as well as its fastest - replaced Charles Aranguiz towards the end of the half, but he struggled to turn the tide.
Download the Official Bundesliga App
Leverkusen returned fire soon after the restart, with Volland fending off Sokratis before thumping his second goal of 2017 high into Roman Bürki’s near top corner, but it was to prove a false dawn for Die Werkself. Dembele volleyed an incredible cross in for Aubameyang after earning a free-kick in the edge of the Leverkusen box, and the striker nodded home for 3-1. There was still time for Leverkusen to pull one back after a sumptuous free-kick from Wendell, but Dortmund had the last laugh when Christian Pulisic stroked home minutes later before Andre Schürrle converted a penalty and Raphael Guerreiro put gloss on the scoreline at the death.
Want more Bundesliga Action?
Man of the Match
Aubameyang has scored 75 Bundesliga goals in 117 games for Dortmund. Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski took 131 games to reach 74!. The Gabon captain has progressed from flying winger to predatory attacker in his four years at the club - Dortmund-bound Leverkusen centre-back Ömer Toprak will be relieved to face him in training next term, instead of as a competitive opponent!
Talking Point
After a stuttering start to the campaign, Dortmund are beginning to look like odds on favourites for UEFA Champions League qualification come the end of of the year. Only league leaders Bayern Munich (17) have picked up more points than Die Schwarzgelben (16) in 2017, and Thomas Tuchel’s men are now in third for the third consecutive week - a season first for them.
Match Stats
- Aubameyang bagged his 20th and 21st goals of the season. The BVB star took nine more games to score only four more goals last season.Dembele is enjoying his most productive season in senior professional football to date. The 19-year-old France winger has had a direct hand in 14 goals now: eight of them provided for others and six converted himself.Leverkusen have lost more times already this term (11) as they did last (10).
Line-ups
Dortmund: Bürki - Piszczek, Sokratis, Bartra - Durm, Castro, Weigl, Guerreiro – Dembele (Kagawa 73’), Reus (c) (Pulisic 44’) – Aubameyang (Schürrle 81’)
Coach: Thomas Tuchel
Leverkusen: Leno - Henrichs, Jedvaj, Toprak (Dragovic 86’), Wendell – Aranguiz (Bellarabi 38’), L. Bender (c) - Havertz, Kampl - Volland, Mehmedi (Chicharito 66’)
Coach: Roger Schmidt
Watch: Pulisic was delighted to add his name to the scoresheet!: