Ten-man Borussia Dortmund held to goalless draw by Werder Bremen

Borussia Dortmund dropped points for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon as they played out a goalless draw against Werder Bremen.

Nico Schlotterbeck's sending off and a failure to create enough clear-cut chances hurt Borussia Dortmund as Nuri Sahin endured a frustrating return to his former club Werder Bremen. There was not much to separate the two sides at the Weserstadion, although the home side created the better chances in a game of high intensity.

Sahin made two changes to his starting XI, with Jamie Gittens and Maximilian Beier replacing Donyell Malen and Karim Adeyemi in attack. The rest of the team was unchanged, with the BVB head coach continuing his experiment of playing with three centre-backs in the back four.

The Black and Yellows were under the cosh early on, and Gregor Kobel had to be alert on a couple of occasions. Waldemar Anton and Julian Brandt came close to scoring for BVB in an action-packed first-half. While Marvin Ducksch and Jens Stage had the pick of the chances for the home side.

The second-half got off to a cagey start, and Sahin brought on Adeyemi to liven things up. The Germany international caused the Bremen defenders a few problems with his pace and directness, before the complexion of the game changed in the 73rd minute.

A sliding challenge from Nico Schlotterbeck earned him his second yellow card, and Borussia Dortmund had to play out the rest of the game with ten men. Neither side was able to find a winning goal, although Borussia Dortmund came closest as Malen came off the bench and forced a save late on.

And so, Borussia Dortmund stumbled yet again in their first away game of the Bundesliga season. The result comes as a bit of a blow, but BVB will hope to return to winning ways after the international break when they take on Heidenheim at the Westfalenstadion.