Late goals help Borussia Dortmund come from behind and beat FC Köln 3-1

Second half goals from Jadon Sancho, Achraf Hakimi and Paco Alcacer helped Borussia Dortmund come from a goal down and beat FC Köln 3-1 in a hard fought affair.

Lucien Favre made just one change to the side that thrashed Augsburg last weekend, with first choice goalkeeper Roman Burki coming into the side for Marwin Hitz, as Borussia Dortmund looked two make it two wins out of two in the Bundesliga. However, Dortmund were slow to get out of the blocks in the first half, with Köln looking the more dangerous of the two sides early on.

The home side kept a great shape and starved Dortmund of any space, forcing them to look for sideways and backward passes instead. And they were a constant threat on the counter, making it hard for Lucien Favre’s side to to gain a foothold in the game.

The Billy Goats’ early pressure paid off in the 29th minute when Dominick Drexler headed home from close range after some poor defending by Dortmund from a corner. The goal gave Köln the security they were looking for, and allowed them to sit deep and frustrate the away side for the rest of the first half.

Borussia Dortmund came into the second half with much more purpose and intensity, and came close to scoring, but both Paco Alcacer and Marco Reus were denied by Timo Horn.

Then Lucien Favre decided to bring on Julian Brandt and Achraf Hakimi, and the duo added some much needed directness and intensity to Borussia Dortmund’s attack. Brandt did really well to set up Marco Reus immediately after coming on, but the Dortmund captain was denied again by the inspired Horn.

Borussia Dortmund’s persistence was finally rewarded in the 70th minute when Jadon Sancho collected a short corner from Thorgan Hazard, before finding the bottom corner with his weaker left foot to make it 1-1. Following Sancho’s goal it was all Borussia Dortmund, but they had to wait until the 86th minute to take the lead. And the goal came through an unlikely source, as it was Achraf Hakimi who headed home after Lukasz Piszczek found him with a pinpoint cross.

With Köln looking for a late equaliser, Borussia Dortmund doubled their lead with a devastating counter attack deep into added time, with Paco Alcacer tapping home his sixth goal of the season.

Having dominated most of their games so far, Borussia Dortmund were certainly given a scare by the newly promoted Köln tonight. But ultimately they showed great character and fighting spirit in the second half to come away with three precious points. Lucien Favre will have plenty of positives to take from the game, but will be hoping for a much more complete performance from his side when they travel to Union Berlin next weekend.