BUNDESLIGA RATINGS | Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Mainz – BVB comfortably beat Mainz and close the gap on Bayern Munich to three points | OneFootball

Matchday 22 in the Bundesliga kicked off at the Westfalenstadion as Borussia Dortmund looked to close the gap once again on Bayern Munich at the top of the table. They welcomed in-form Mainz, who last weekend dragged themselves out of the relegation zone for the first time since they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat to Dortmund in the reverse fixture back in September.

The hosts made just one change to the team that overcame Wolfsburg 2-1 last weekend, with the suspended Nico Schlotterbeck replaced by Ramy Bensebaini. Urs Fischer, meanwhile, stuck with the same 11 that dispatched Augsburg 2-0 a week ago.

The visitors made a positive start and perhaps should have taken the lead through Jae-Sung Lee, had it not been for a good save from Gregor Kobel. Nine minutes later, Dortmund made them pay, as Serhou Guirassy nodded home from a Julian Ryerson free kick to give the hosts the lead after ten minutes.

Niko Kovač’s men kept up the pressure and soon doubled their lead, once again through a header created by Julian Ryerson. The Norwegian’s pinpoint cross to the far post left Maximilian Beier with the simple task of heading home.

Refusing to roll over, Mainz soon missed a golden opportunity to halve the deficit when Silas worked himself into a promising position only to fire wide, and despite wing-back Silvan Widmer finding the back of the net, celebrations were cut short as he was flagged for a marginal offside.

Before half-time, Die Schwarzgelben made the visitors pay for their poor finishing once again, with Ryerson grabbing his hat-trick of assists with a corner, dropping the ball perfectly onto the head of Guirassy, who grabbed his second of the evening to make it 3-0.

The second half began with Mainz having their goalkeeper, Daniel Batz, to thank for keeping the score at 3-0, as the 35-year-old first denied Felix Nmecha, then kept out a deflected effort from Jobe Bellingham, before producing another fine save to deny Maximilian Beier.

Mainz huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser for the majority of the second half without really laying a glove on the Dortmund backline, and they would be put out of their misery with six minutes to go when yet another superb delivery from Ryerson put the game beyond doubt via an own goal from Dominik Kohr.

With their sixth win on the bounce, Dortmund close the gap at the top of the table once again to just three points in what will be a highly pleasing victory for Kovač. Particularly encouraging for the hosts was the fact that the result never looked in doubt once they took the lead, something that has not often been said of the men from the Ruhrgebiet in recent weeks.

For the visitors, they ultimately fell victim to a masterclass in set-piece taking from Julian Ryerson. The final score does not fully reflect the course of the game, especially the first half, when Urs Fischer’s men squandered their fair share of chances.

Borussia Dortmund 4–0 Mainz | Player Ratings

Borussia Dortmund:

Gregor Kobel (6), Niklas Süle (6), Waldemar Anton (7), Ramy Bensebaini (6), Julian Ryerson (9), Felix Nmecha (6), Jobe Bellingham (7), Daniel Svensson (6), Julian Brandt (6), Serhou Guirassy (7), Maximilian Beier (7)

Others: Luca Reggiani (6), Carney Chukwuemeka (6), Fabio Silva (6), Marcel Sabitzer (-), Karim Adeyemi (-)

Mainz:

Daniel Batz (6), Stefan Posch (5), Stefan Bell (5), Dominik Kohr (5), Danny Da Costa (5), Kaishu Sano (6), Silvan Widmer (5), Jae-Sung Lee (5), Nadiem Amiri (6), Phillip Tietz (6), Silas (5)

Others: Kacper Potulski (6), Phillipp Mwene (6), Paul Nebel (6), Sheraldo Becker (6), Nelson Weiper (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Julian Ryerson (9)

Norwegian full-back Ryerson almost single-handedly won the game for Dortmund tonight. Seeming to get better with each delivery, his total of three assists was just reward for an unbelievable display.

GGFN | Harry Good