Berlin, Oct 17 (IANS) Runner-up Dortmund returned to winning ways thanks to goals by Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the opener of the 9th round in Bundesliga.
Borussia Dortmund recovered from a four-game winless streak as Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan secured the sixth victory of the season while Mainz suffered their fifth loss on Friday, Xinhua reported.
Mainz nearly shocked the visitors with the opener but Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki denied Yoshiniro Muto with a superb save from very close range in the opening period.
The “BVB” remained unimpressed and grabbed the lead by courtesy of Marco Reus, who finished a combination via Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to break the deadlock at the 18th minute.
The hosts kept it bowling and restored almost parity through Jairo’s set piece that forced custodian Roman Buerki to make a safe at the 33rd minute.
Dortmund had the chance to double the lead after the restart but Mainz goalkeeper Loris Karius denied Marco Reus from the spot, following a controversial foul play by Niko Bungert to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the 47th minute.
Mainz continued to threat Dortmund’s defence whereas the visitors failed to make the game safe. Things change in the closing period as Mainz’ Daniel Brosinski misplaced pass to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang allowed the Gabon international to set up for Henrik Mkhitaryan, who had no problems to put the game beyond doubt with eight minutes to play.
“We had a our problems in the first half and made our life difficult at the second half. We should have scored the second goal earlier,” Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc said.
With the results, second placed Dortmund increase their advantage to third placed Schalke to four points. Meanwhile, Mainz slipped from the 8th to the 9th place.
The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: Schalke host Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg see Hoffenheim, Hamburg clash with Leverkusen, Augsburg meet Darmstadt, front runners Bayern Munich visit Bremen and Frankfurt see Monchengladbach.
