Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland star as Borussia Dortmund thrash SC Altach 6-0

Borussia Dortmund began their preparations for the start of the new season with a comfortable 6-0 win over Austrian side SC Altach.

Goals from Gio Reyna, Erling Haaland (x2), Thorgan Hazard, Emre Can and Julian Brandt gave Borussia Dortmund a dominant win in their first pre-season game of the summer. And there were several other encouraging performances as well, with Jude Bellingham, Thomas Meunier and Immanuel Pherai all impressing in the romp.

Lucien Favre named a strong starting XI, with Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho leading the attack. Jude Bellingham made his first appearance for Borussia Dortmund, who lined up with a back four for first time since late November.

Borussia Dortmund started on the front foot, with Immanuel Pherai coming close to scoring early on. It did not take them long to take the lead and it was Good Reyna who opened the scoring with a nutmeg past the goalkeeper after being set up by Erling Haaland. But it was good pressing from Jude Bellingham, which led to the interception and created the opening in the first place.

Dortmund had a number of chances double their lead, as Sancho, Haaland and Pherai all came close to scoring. Haaland finally made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 36th minute after he was fouled by Altach goalkeeper Martin Kobras inside the box. The Norwegian striker then added a third with the final kick of the first half after being set up by an excellent back-heeled pass by Jude Bellingham.

Lucien Favre made 11 changes at half time, with the likes of Dan Axel Zagadou, Raphael Guerreiro, Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt all coming on. Thomas Meunier also came on for his first Dortmund appearance.

Despite not looking as dangerous going forward as they did in the first half, Borussia Dortmund had a number of decent chances to add to their lead. Felix Passlack and Marius Wolf came close, before Julian Brandt and Axel Witsel hit the woodwork. The Black and Yellows finally made it 4-0 in the 75th minute when Thorgan Hazard scored from spot after being fouled inside the box by Altach goalkeeper Timo Casali.

New signing Thomas Meunier then set up Emre Can for Dortmund’s fifth at the end of a well worked team move. Julian Brandt then put the icing on the cake by making it 6-0 with the final kick of the game.

It was a dominant win for Borussia Dortmund, who could have easily scored 4-5 more goals. The match was attended by 1250 spectators who all followed social distancing measures. Up next for them is Sunday’s pre-season friendly against Austria Wein, who are coached by Peter Stöger.