Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen: Key talking points

Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga season began with a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen at the Westfalenstadion on Saturday, with captain Marco Reus getting the only goal in the encounter.

The start of the Bundesliga season is now fully upon us with the first round of games having been played. Borussia Dortmund were able to get their campaign underway with a win over fellow top four candidates Bayer Leverkusen.

The game was everything one would’ve expected from a clash between Dortmund and Leverkusen, save the goals. The football was fast paced and there were plenty of chances, but Marco Reus would be the only player on the scoresheet despite both teams doing their best to find a creative avenue to victory.

Both Dortmund and Leverkusen came into the game boasting impressive front lines. Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick was one of the Bundesliga’s deadliest strikers last season, scoring 24 goals and providing 5 assists in the league alone. Add to this mercurial winger Moussa Diaby and top talent Adam Hložek, and the expectations were that Leverkusen would be a force to be reckoned with. Schick came close on two occasions on Saturday, with both efforts rightfully called offside.

On BVB’s end, their front line boasted Donyell Malen, Karim Adeyemi, and Youssoufa Moukoko. While the attack lacked the presence of a strong striker with the ability to hold up play due to Sébastien Haller’s absence, the front line was indeed fluid and caused quite a few problems for Leverkusen, particularly going forward. The tempo and fluidity did drop however after Adeyemi was taken off in the first half due to injury.

While the game promised goals aplenty, it would be Borussia Dortmund’s defense that would steal the show and produce a performance that, while far from perfect, showed that the new additions they have made over the summer were steps in the right direction in fixing their defense. Lets take a closer look at the key talking points this fixture left us with.