Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac was all the praise for his team following their 3-1 comeback victory over Rot-Weiss Oberhausen in their first pre-season friendly on Saturday.
Justin Lerma, Serhou Guirassy and Takato Yamamoto scored apiece for the BVB after Timur Kesim had put their fourth-division hosts in front after five minutes into the kick-off.
After two months off, Die Borussen players reported back to work on Tuesday, 14 July for their first training session post the summer break.
On Saturday, Kovac's side were in action for their first friendly game of the summer and the side secured a healthy win following some early jitters.
Speaking to the press after the game, the Croatian manager said:
"“The game was all about wrapping up the first week of training on a positive note. After eight weeks of vacation and a very intense first week of training, the goal was for the lads to just play soccer in a friendly against a fourth-division team and show things that we might not have seen in training. I thought the lads did a good job, especially in the second half. Now they have tomorrow off, and then we’ll be back at it next week.”"as quoted on Dortmund's official site
RW Oberhausen, who ply their trade in the Regionalliga West (IV) league, the fourth-tier of German football, went in front after only five minutes into the kick-off. Alexander Meyer's goal-kick was played back in action by Tim Bohmer, whose header fell unchallenged to Luca Schlax a few yards ahead.
The Oberhausen number 10 neatly controlled the ball under pressure from three Dortmund players before turning inside to play it on for an onrushing Timur Kesim, who beat his marker Jan-Luca Reidl to make a confident finish beyond Meyer for 1-0.
Dortmund fought back towards the end of the half through debutant Justin Lerma, who was well positioned inside the box to connect with a loose ball after Mathis Albert's attempt came off an Oberhausen defender to make it 1-1.
Guinean sharpshooter Serhou Guirassy came off the bench to put the Black and Yellow in front for the first time with a sophisticated close-range finish following some neat team move Takato Yamamoto, who was also making his club debut on the day, added a third in the 78th minute.
It wasn't perfect, but Dortmund managed to get the job done in their first game back since the conclusion of the 2025-26 season in May to start off their pre-season campaign on a positive note. Up next is a visit to Dusseldorf on Saturday, 25 July.
Add us as a preferred source on Google