After watching Bayern cruise to a 4-0 victory over Werder Bremen yesterday, Dortmund responded with an equally simple victory of their own today thanks to a couple brilliant plays by Karim Adeyemi over a clearly limited FSV Mainz 05 side, who despite participating in this year’s edition of the UEFA Conference League, continue their uninspiring start to the 2025-26 campaign.
A brilliant play initiated on the right side by Adeyemi that was ultimately finished by Svensson followed by a counter that further displayed Karim “The Cook” and his on the ball abilities proved more than enough for BVB to not only win their 4th consecutive Bundesliga match, but do so with as many clean sheets, which has them tied for the top defense in the league at the moment (Bayern).
The match followed a similar pattern to that of last weekend’s victory over Wolfsburg, minus a few chances for the Black and Yellow. But that’s ok; you don’t need to be flashy in every single match of a 50 or so match season, especially when you’re giving key guys (Guirassy, Ryerson) a rest in prep for an upcoming Champions League meeting vs. Athletic Club. Despite that, Brandt and Yan Couto filled in well and did a solid job helping in bringing in all 3 points.
A huge positive in this one was the return of two more injured players in German international Niklas Süle (unused sub) and Fábio Silva (subbed in at 87’ for Beier). Fantastic news for a team that’s been deep in injuries from before the start of the season. Their return will give Dortmund some much needed depth and quality as the schedule tightens in the following weeks with all 3 competitions. The remaining unavailable players are Emre Can, Aarón Anselmino, and Julien Duranville.
On that note, Nico Schlotterbeck made his second consecutive start after half a year out and performed nicely yet again. This defense can do great things as they are - now imagine once Anselmino and Emre Can return - truly a yellow wall. Such an awaited sight for every Dortmund sight to have this team back at full strength to prove what their full potential really is.
Two things to say regarding Mainz - 1) Their only approach really worth mentioning came off a corner in the 55th minute where BVB’s defense fell asleep and allowed Andreas Hanche-Olsen to sneak in on the far post, who connected a headed liner right to Kobel - fortunately. Any other direction that goes in cuts the lead in half. 2) Robin Zentner got lucky he didn’t fracture Karim Adeyemi when he was sent off. He went all-in on that tackle and if Adeyemi didn’t have the footwork he does, things could’ve been much more serious. A scary sight for sure at an irrelevant moment.
And you know Kovac thought the exact same thing with his immediate response - subbing off the winger in favor of Chukwuemeka. A great decision as there was no further need for Adeyemi to be in there at that point.
Mainz continues their awful start to the season as they drop to a 1-1-3 record, good for 4 points, just 1 above FC Augsburg who occupy the 16th spot (Relegation play-offs), especially in comparison to their 6th place finish last season. Dortmund on the other hand own a 4-1-0 record - still undefeated - and remain in sole possession of 2nd place, 2 points behind league leaders Bayern.
Believe it or not, Dortmund’s next two league meetings could ultimately decide their 2025-26 Bundesliga fate; they host RB Leipzig next Saturday, who are also winners of 4 straight league matches and are currently 3rd in the league table. The next league match will be following the FIFA break and will be none other than at the Allianz Arena where Bayern Munich will try to defeat Borussia in their home stadium for the first time since March 2023. Yep, BVB’s injured players could be returning at just the right time.