Borussia Dortmund 8-1 Sportfreunde Siegen: Kovač's side start pre-season with a bang | OneFootball

In their first pre-season friendly since the FIFA Club World Cup, Borussia Dortmund made the trip to the Leimbachstadion for a meeting with Oberliga Westfalen side Sportfreunde Siegen. The club from the fifth tier of Germany's football pyramid were no match for their Bundesliga opponents who ran out 8-1 winners.

Die Schwarzgelben forged the breakthrough on 9 minutes when Svensson's cross to the back post found 18-year-old Elias Benkara who headed home with the aid of the crossbar. Yan Couto doubled the visitors' advantage with their next significant attack - Julian Brandt's trivela delivery fell for the Brazilian full-back to volley home inside the box.

Alexander Meyer was called upon to smother Dustin Willms strike on the counterattack, but the scoreboard would ultimately read 3-0 on 25 minutes. Jobe and Groß exchanged passes before Couto found Brandt. The BVB skipper weighted his assist perfectly for Sabitzer to thump home. A fourth strike came from Adeyemi who picked out the lower right corner after controlling Jobe's pass expertly.

Shortly after the half-hour, Niko Kovač's side added their fifth and sixth of the evening. Jobe sprayed a ball wide to Adeyemi before lifting his head to square for a Julian Brandt tap-in. The 29-year-old made it a quickfire brace as Groß supplied from the right flank to head home with ease. However, Sportfreunde pulled one back before the interval as Derrick Kyere fed Josue Santo.

With the game all but wrapped up, head coach Kovač made 11 alterations at the break so as to not overload starters and give minutes to less experienced names. Summer signing Patrick Drewes was called into action almost straight away as the 32-year-old made an impressive parry to repel Shaibou Oubeyapwa's curling effort.

Sportfreunde looked more at ease in the second-half, enjoying a healthier spells of possession. However, BVB's replenished strike force of Haller and Beier combined nicely for the latter to round Ospelt and clip the ball into an empty net. The hosts' shot-stopper won't look back fondly on the 72nd-minute as he fumbled a long ball for Ayman Azhil to ruthlessly tap home for BVB's eighth goal.

The game ultimately panned out in a rather uneventful manner as both sides grew weary with tiring legs aplenty. Aside from a final chance for Felix Nmecha which caught the base of the post and a goal-line clearance from Julian Ryerson, Dortmund joyfully settled for a confidence building win. Niko Kovač's men will now turn their attention to an August 10 meeting with Italian giants Juventus.