2-0 – BVB claim three points in Mainz with another clean sheet | OneFootball

Even without Serhou Guirassy, who was ruled out at short notice, BVB proved efficient, scoring two goals in the first half through Daniel Svensson (27) and Karim Adeyemi (40) – both set up by Guirassy’s replacement in the starting line-up, Julian Brandt. From the 67th minute onwards, BVB played with a man advantage, as Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner hacked down Adeyemi, who looked to be through on goal, and was shown a red card.

The scenario:The second-placed team versus the 13th-placed team. Mainz had secured their first win of the season the previous weekend, while Borussia were unbeaten in 12 league games across this season and last. Personnel:One change was made to the starting line-up from last weekend: Yan Couto came in to replace Julian Ryerson, who dropped to the bench. However, during the warm-up, Serhou Guirassy felt an issue in his thigh and was then replaced by Julian Brandt. In addition, Aaron Anselmino (injured back), Cole Campbell (U20 World Cup), Emre Can (adductor problems) and Julien Duranville (injured shoulder) were also unavailable. Fabio Silva was in the squad for the first time ever in a competitive fixture, while Niklas Süle was included for the first time since the Club World Cup.

Tactics:Guirassy’s last-minute withdrawal did not result in any change to the basic approach. Brandt, Adeyemi and Beier formed a three-man attacking frontline, with the latter moving into Guirassy's centre-forward position. Mainz countered Dortmund’s 3-4-3 with an almost identical 3-4-2-1 – Nebel and Lee were positioned significantly deeper than Brandt and Adeyemi. Long balls were the go-to option for the team from the Rhine Hesse region, who did not seem particularly interested in possession.

Match summary:The 05ers were happy to allow BVB 09, the ball early on, as they sat deep and defended man-to-man. Borussia had 65% of possession in the first ten minutes, but couldn’t break through against a very guarded opposition defending with a back five. It wasn’t until the 22nd minute, when Schlotterbeck stepped in to cut out a Mainz attack and advanced forwards, that BVB had their first big chance. In a four-on-four attack, Schlotterbeck slipped the ball to Adeyemi on the right edge of the box, who took a little too long to unleash his shot, meaning Leitsch was able to get his leg in the way.

Mainz then responded with a threat of their own in the 26th minute. A long ball from Amiri found Sieb on the left wing, who had been given too much space. He delivered a cross towards Nebel, whose effort on goal from around seven metres struck the right-hand post. It was a lucky break for BVB, but they found the perfect response immediately afterwards. Adeyemi picked up the pace on the right and passed the ball centrally to Beier, who stepped into the penalty area and shifted the ball to the onrushing Brandt on the right. Brandt got his head up and played a perfectly-weighted ball towards the far post, where Svensson met it with a crisp finish to give the visitors a 1-0 lead (27).

After falling behind, the hosts stepped up their game, looking to play more football and ask more questions of BVB. However, this also meant there was more space to exploit. Adeyemi’s quickly snatched up a loose ball 15 metres inside his own half and bolted forwards. The speedster was bearing down on the Mainz goal, but Sano did well to get back and put him under pressure. Adeyemi then slipped a slightly wayward pass to Brandt on his left, who turned the botched assist into a one-two. The ball came back to Adeyemi, who found the bottom-left corner from 11 metres out to make it 2-0 (40).

The second half began with two Adeyemi sprints down the right wing. First, Brandt, who had made a run into the area, failed to get on the end of his sharp cross, and then, shortly afterwards, Sabitzer got a sight of goal and pulled the trigger, but it was blocked. Down the other end, Hanche-Olsen got his head to a corner, but Kobel made the save (56). Mainz were aggressive, winning the majority of tackles during this phase, and soon switched to a back four on the hour mark, as they sought to find a way back into the game. Instead they found themselves down to ten men: Kobel played a long ball into the opposition half to Adeyemi, who sprinted at 35.78 km/h to reach the ball and was brought down by Zentner, who had rushed out of his goal. The red card was indisputable.

Mainz continued to dominate the game despite being a man down. Nordin shot just over the bar in the 84th minute. The Black & Yellows seemed to want to save their energy ahead of the difficult home games coming up against Athletic Bilbao and Leipzig. Brandt could have capped off his good performance with a goal, but failed to beat Riess in the FSV goal in the third minute of stoppage time after a pass from substitute Fabio Silva, who was making his competitive debut in Black & Yellow.

Outlook:  The Black & Yellows have another English week to look forward to, in which they'll play home matches against Athletic Bilbao (Wednesday, 21:00 CEST) and Leipzig (Saturday, 15:30 CEST). Boris Rupert

Teams & goals

Bundesliga, Matchday 51. FSV MAINZ 05 0–2 (0-2) BORUSSIA DORTMUND

1. FSV Mainz 05: Zentner – da Costa, Hanche-Olsen (69, Sieb), Leitsch (63, Bell) – Widmer, Sano, Amiri (80, Maloney), Mwene – Nebel, Lee (63, Nordin) – Sieb (80, Weiper)Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Anton, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini – Yan Couto (69, Ryerson), Sabitzer (77, Bellingham), Nmecha (77, Gross), Svensson – Adeyemi (69, Chukwuemeka), Beier (87, Fabio Silva), BrandtSubstitutes: Veratschnig, Böving, Gleiber, Bobzien – Meyer, Özcan, Süle, Guirassy Goals: 0-1 Svensson (27, Brandt), 0-2 Adeyemi (40, Brandt)Corners: 7-3 (1-0 at half-time), chance ratio: 2-4 (1-3)Referee: Reichel (Sindelfingen), red cards: Zentner (67., last-man challenge), yellow cards: Amiri, Nebel – CoutoAttendance: 33, 305 (sold-out), weather: generally sunny, 19 degrees