Borussia Dortmund saw off Paderborn 3-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday, courtesy of a late brace from substitute Felix Nmecha after Fabio Silva's early opener.
Coming into the fixture on the back of four consecutive wins in all competitions, the BVB were favorites to prevail against the struggling promoted side and even took the lead just five minutes into it.
But the North Rhine-Westphalia outfit grew into the game slowly and started taking initiative by controlling the ball more and mustering a surprising number of shots which saw them finish with more xG than Dortmund at the break.
Niko Kovac's side continued to go through the motions even in the second half, until some inspired substitutions combined to create two goals in the final 10 minutes of normal time and put the match beyond Paderborn's reach.
Here are some key talking points from the match:
1) Guirassy-Silva link up once more
Felix Nmecha might have emerged as the late hero tonight but it was Serhou Guirassy and Fabio Silva who engineered the opening goal. The Guinean latched onto to a loose ball near their own penalty area and sent a vertical ball forward for Silva to chase. The Portuguese raced ahead of his marker and dragged the goalkeeper out before slamming it home for 1-0.
For the third successive game, the BVB forwards have linked up directly to create a goal, with Guirassy teeing up Silva in the Hoffenheim clash before Silva returned the favor in their Champions Leaague encounter with Villarreal on Tuesday. Also, with four goals this season, the 24-year-old has already surpassed his tally from the 2025-26 season (3).
2) Kovac's substitutions do the trick, again!
There's perhaps no manager in Europe right now who makes substitutions quite as brilliantly as Niko Kovac. The Croatian has developed a reputation for making late changes that turn the tide in his side's favor and today was no different.
Dortmund's last two goals today saw three of his substitutes involved, with Maximilian Beier teeing up Felix Nmecha for 2-0 before Marcel Sabitzer sent in a looping cross for the German international to slam home with a spectacular bicycle kick.
3) Dortmund still lacking control
Another late surge, another win. All good, right? Except, it's not going to work against the bigger and mightier sides. On too many occasions today, Dortmund allowed Paderborn to have the ball and take control of the proceedings, with the promoted side even thereatening with a few shots in the first half.
As for BVB, their only gameplan seemed like passing the ball to either Guirassy or Silva and letting their talismanic forwards do the rest. They came up trumps, for sure. But against teams like Bayern Munich, they'd need more than just that. A collective effort is imperative.
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