Borussia Dortmund overpower Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 to maintain pressure on Bayern Munich
Dortmund consolidated on their 2nd position in the league with an enthralling 3-1 victory over 4th placed Gladbach.
Goals from Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the first half and second half respectively gave Dortmund a 2-0 lead. But, a resilient fightback from the Gladbach saw them pull one back through Raffael. However, a deft Gundogan volley gave Tomas Tuchel's side all the 3 points.
Gladbach were thrashed 4-0 by Dortmund in the opening game of the season, where they looked exposed at the back and were hit on the counter. They seemed to learn from their shortcomings and sat back deep, defended well and created some good chances.
The best chance for Gladbach in the first half fell to Chelsea loanee Andreas Christensen who headed wide after being left free in the box from a corner.
Dortmund, especially Aubameyang was wasteful in front of the goal in the opening exchanges, finishing poorly from good crosses by Marco Reus. The Gabon international failed to add to his 18 league goals and eventually was substituted in the 2nd half.
As the first half went on, BVB seemed to get into their stride and they made it count in the 32nd minute. Ilkay Gundogan put Reus through on goal and the German finished incisively to the bottom left of Yann Sommer's goal.
Dortmund missed a couple more chances in the first half to extend their lead. Mkhitaryan also shot wide from an Aubameyang cross.
Gladbach came out in the second half with a higher defensive line and pushed their full-backs up in search of a leveller.
A brilliant tackle from Hummels sparked a counter for the away side and it was a 3 on 2 situation for them. Reus found Mkhitaryan free on the left who did not disappoint on this occasion and finished calmly to the keepers left.
There was some hope for the home side after they got a goal back through Brazilian Raffael, which came after some shoddy defending by Dortmund.
Tuchel strengthened the defense by bringing on Ginter and Durm, which helped them keep the Gladbach attacks at bay. Gundogan scored the third goal for BVB in the 75th minute and sealed the victory for the visitors. This was the 50th goal in the league for Dortmund this term which handed Andre Schubert only his 2nd defeat as Gladbach manager.
The victory sees Dortmund trail the leaders Bayern Munich by 8 points, they got back to winning ways after a shock 2-1 defeat to Cologne before the winter break.