Marco Reus winner lifts Borussia Dortmund to victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach

Marco Reus scored the only goal of the game as Borussia Dortmund held on to claim a priceless win against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Lucien Favre made three changes to the side that was held by SC Freiburg two weeks ago, with Nico Schulz, Julian Weigl and Julian Brandt coming in for Raphael Guerreiro, Lukasz Piszczek and Mario Gotze. Manuel Akanji was moved to right back, with Julian Weigl slotting in alongside Mats Hummels at centre back, while Julian Brandt was chosen to play up front for Borussia Dortmund.

The game got off to a slow start, with both teams happy to play it safe early on. Gladbach had a fantastic chance to take the lead in just the 6th minute, but Tony Jantschke’s header from close range was brilliantly blocked by Marco Reus. Six minutes later, Reus picked out a gorgeous pass to find Julian Brandt, but his shot was well saved by Yann Sommer.

Roman Bürki was called into action soon after, and he made a fantastic save to keep out Stefan Lainer’s effort after a well worked set piece. Bürki then made an even better save to prevent Breel Embolo from scoring, after the Gladbach forward had beaten the offside trap to go through on goal. Sommer then pulled off an incredible save of his own, when he clawed away Mats Hummels looping header from a corner.

Borussia Dortmund thought they had taken the lead just moments later, when Thorgan Hazard’s deflected effort was palmed into the back of the net by the Gladbach goalkeeper. But VAR somehow spotted that Reus was offside in the build-up and the goal was chalked off.

Dortmund returned from the break with more intent and desire than they showed in the first half. They had a number of half chances to get in front, and finally got their reward when Thorgan Hazard threaded a well timed through ball into the path of Marco Reus. And the Dortmund captain showed great composure by finishing through the legs of Sommer to give his side the lead.

An injury to Roman Bürki forced Borussia Dortmund into making their first change of the game just over ten minutes later. Marwin Hitz came on to make his fourth appearance of the season and made a superb save to keep out Florian Neuhaus’ effort from close range.

Julian Brandt thought he had doubled his side’s lead when he found the net after some good play by Achraf Hakimi. But Reus was adjudged to be offside and blocking the view of the goalkeeper, so the goal was ruled out.

Borussia Dortmund went into the game having conceded late equalisers in each of their last three matches. So when six minutes of added time was announced, fans knew they were in for a nervy end to the game. But there was to be no late drama this time around, as Borussia Dortmund held on to claim a vital victory which put them within one point of league leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Next up for Lucien Favre’s men is a trip to the San Siro to take on Italian giants Inter Milan in the Champions League. Dortmund’s next game in the Bundesliga will see them face rivals Schalke 04.