Borussia Dortmund star Waldemar Anton has hailed his team for a 'fantastic' opening half of their 2-0 win over Hamburg on Saturday.
The BVB began their 2026-27 Bundesliga campaign on a winning note as Serhou Guirassy and debutant Giannis Konstantelias scored a goal apiece to down Die Rothosen.
It took them just nine minutes to open their account for the season, as the Guinean rounded off a lovely one-two with Konstantinos Karetsas before firing a powerful low-drive into the bottom corner.
As the first half winded down, Konstantelias added a second with a lovely run inside the box and smashing it right under his marker, albeit taking a deflection on its way into the net.
With a two-goal cushion at the break, Dortmund comfortably drove to all three points as Waldemar Anton labeled their first-half performance 'perfect'.
Speaking to the press after the game, he said:
"The first half was fantastic. It was a perfect half. We were able to execute on everything we had set out to do. We also started the second half pretty well. When you’re dominant like that, you obviously want to seal the deal. But then we struggled."
Hamburg were supposedly in for a long night but managed to flip the script in the second half, boasting 59% possession and creating two big chances.
New signing Patson Daka even rattled the crossbar as Dortmund appeared to have lost control of the match, especially with Konstantelias going off with an injury nine minutes into the restart.
Adding insult to injury was Samuele Inacio's red card in the 77th minute, as the Italian was sent off for a rash challenge on Albert Grønbæk as the BVB were left to play with 10-men for the closing stages.
Anton acknowledged that Dortmund cannot always rely on good performance in just one half of a game but also praised his side for remaining steady even after going a man down.
"That’s something we need to work on. One strong half won’t always be enough. Nonetheless, it’s also a sign of quality when you can play a man down late in a game and still win."
After having drawn their opening match with St. Pauli last season, Dortmund returned to winning ways on the first matchday of a Bundesliga. In fact, it's their 10th from the last 11 seasons.
Niko Kovac's side return to action on Tuesday, 1 September as they take on fifth-tier side HEBC in the first round of the 2026-27 DFB-Pokal.
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