Borussia Dortmund’s dream start to the season under Thomas Tuchel continued as their 4-0 win at new-boys Ingolstadt saw them leapfrog Bayern Munich to top the Bundesliga table on goal difference.
Matthias Ginter and Marco Reus settled Dortmund’s nerves with a quickfire double around the hour mark just as it was beginning to look as though the first visitors to Ingolstadt in the Bundesliga were going to be frustrated by their hosts.
Shinji Kagawa added a third with six minutes to go and Pierre-Eme-rick Aubameyang finished off the rout to take the Westphalians to the top of the pile on goal difference.
“I knew we’d go top of the table after we went 3-0 up, but what especially pleased me was the performance,” said Tuchel. “I’d hoped in the half-time break that they would be rewarded for playing well.”
It was one-way traffic from start to finish, yet Ingolstadt were able to survive the storm for the first 45 minutes with a mixture of wayward finishing and good goalkeeping helping them stay in the game.
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Ilkay Gundogan and Aubameyang were guilty of missing the best chances as BVB showed the same confidence and fluidity that saw them beat Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 a week ago, only they were unable to supply the goals.
That changed 10 minutes into the second half when Ginter cut inside Konstantin Engel and placed his shot into the far corner of Orjan Nyland’s goal.
A penalty for a foul by Moritz Hartmann on Marcel Schmelzer five minutes later allowed Reus to make it two.
Borussia Dortmund have now scored 19 goals in just 6 competitive fixtures under Thomas Tuchel. Good start. #BVB pic.twitter.com/KTCiLuy7fh
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 23, 2015
It looked like the floodgates might open, but it was not until the 84th minute that Dortmund added a third, Kagawa beating Nyland from Jonas Hofmann’s pass.
Aubameyang then wrapped up victory in stoppage time as BVB, who beat Odd 4-3 in the Europa League, took their tally to 12 goals in three games this week.
In the late kick-off, Gladbach, who will discover their Champions League group stage opponents on Thursday, lost 2-1 to Mainz.
Gladbach cancelled out Jairo Samperio’s first-half goal when Germany winger Patrick Herrmann equalised just after the break only for right-winger Christian Clemens to score Mainz’s 79th-minute winner to leave Gladbach bottom of the table without a point.
