Borussia Dortmund survive to get narrow 2-1 victory over Mainz

Borussia Dortmund scraped by Mainz in a 2-1 win to pick up a vital 3 points in the Bundesliga title race.

Borussia Dortmund started the game against Mainz firing on all cylinders, piling on the pressure early in the game. Jacob Bruun Larsen had two early chances to give Dortmund the lead, the first was off a great ball from Mario Gotze after a quick corner. It was tough to see if it was off Bruun Larsen or the Mainz defender but either way it went off the far post, staying out. The second was off an exquisite through ball in the air from Jadon Sancho. The Mainz keeper was able to pull off an exceptional save in tight with next to no reaction time to keep the ball out.

It was Jadon Sancho who struck once and then again to put Dortmund up 1-0 and 2-0 in the span of 6 minutes. Sancho’s first goal was a thing of beauty from start to finish. The play started with Marius Wolf in Dortmund’s own end playing an exceptional long ball just over the Mainz defense right onto the chest of Mario Gotze in full stride. All it took was one touch from Gotze and then he chipped the ball across the 18 yard box right onto the foot of Jadon Sancho to fire home. Sancho’s second goal was also a nice team goal. Mario Gotze found Thomas Delaney in full speed who took it wide along the side of the 18 yard box before squaring it past 3 Mainz defenders right onto Sancho’s foot.

Dortmund remained in control for the rest of the first half, Bruun Larsen had another chance that he missed wide on the far side. Mainz did have one dangerous opportunity hitting the post on a ball in tight that Burki wouldn’t have had a chance to stop.

The second half was a completely different story, Mainz came out right away and Dortmund were flat. Dortmund lost all of their dominance after the break as Mainz controlled the play and piled on more and more pressure as the game wore on. Dortmund were lucky to last until the 83rd minute before conceding as Mainz had multiple chances to get on the board before then. After scoring to make it 2-1 Dortmund just turtled. Right before the goal, Favre brought on Dan-Axel Zagadou for Marius Wolf and then after the goal Favre brought on another defender in Toprak to try and see out the game. These subs all but ensured Mainz would get chance after chance as Dortmund sat back and prayed they didn’t concede again.

The only reason Dortmund escaped with all 3 points was Roman Burki who absolutely stood on his head in the second half. In the 87th minute he made an insane triple save with all 3 shots coming from inside the 6 yard box. Somehow Burki kept the ball from crossing the line, ensuring the 3 points were secured.

Next up for Borussia Dortmund is a trip to SC Freiburg as they aim to keep up with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga title race.