Borussia Dortmund back? Bayern beware after Gladbach beatdown

Borussia Dortmund hammered last term's third-place finishers Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 on Saturday, signalling a possible challenge to Bayern Munich once more.

Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates scoring against Borussia Monchengladbach in his side's Bundesliga opening victory. Patrik Stollarz / AFP / August 15, 2015

Borussia Dortmund threw down the gauntlet to defending champions Bayern Munich on Saturday with a 4-0 drubbing of Borussia Monchengladbach on the opening weekend of the new Bundesliga season.

After Jurgen Klopp resigned last season, Dortmund’s new coach Thomas Tuchel began his tenure in emphatic style with left winger Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring twice as Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also netted.

Bayern began their quest for an historic fourth successive title when they routed Hamburg 5-0 at home on Friday.

But 2012 German champions Dortmund suggested Pep Guardiola’s Bavarian club may not have it all their own way this season by hammering Gladbach, who finished third last season.

“The defeat was clearly deserved. Full stop. Dortmund were much better,” admitted Gladbach coach Lucien Favre.

“The tempo was too high for us, I have to say. We couldn’t control the game.”

Dortmund took the lead after just 15 minutes when Germany winger Reus hammered home Shinji Kawaga’s pass, while Aubameyang added their second when he headed home Marcel Schmelzer’s pin-point cross six minutes later.

To the delight of the home supporters in the 81,359-strong crowd, Dortmund made it 3-0 at half-time when Mkhitaryan slotted home on 33 minutes after Aubameyang had torn the Gladbach defence to pieces.

The Armenia international added Dortmund’s fourth and his second on 50 minutes when he drilled home Reus’s final pass with Aubameyang also waiting to score.

It could have been five as Kagawa, who was outstanding in the attacking midfield, hammered his shot wide of the post soon after.

Dortmund have also won their two Europa League games, and a DFB-Pokal (German Cup) match, this season by scoring 12 goals without reply.

“We have won all of our four games so far this season without conceding. We have played very well until now, but any big praise is still too early,” said Dortmund captain Mats Hummels.

Earlier, Bayer Leverkusen warmed up for their Champions League play-off clash at Lazio on Tuesday with a 2-1 comeback win against Hoffenheim.

Leverkusen face Lazio away on Tuesday, with the return on August 26, for a place in the Champions League group stage and 19-year-old Julian Brandt came off the bench to score their winner at home to Hoffenheim.

Newly-promoted Ingolstadt celebrated their debut in Germany’s top flight with a 1-0 win at Mainz as Austria international Lukas Hinterseer scored their second-half winner.

Fellow new boys Darmstadt finished their first game in the Bundesliga for 33 years with a 2-2 draw against Hannover in an action-packed match.

Schalke picked up their first win under new coach Andre Breitenreiter with a 3-0 victory at Werder Bremen.

The hosts conceded an unlucky first-half own goal when Czech defender Theodor Gebre Selassie beat Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to the ball, but his clearance looped over Werder goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald and into his own net.

Cameroon striker Eric Choupo-Moting converted a pass from his international teammate Joel Matip on 68 minutes before Huntelaar finished off a superb counter-attack on 85 minutes by 19-year-old substitute Leroy Sane, who had just come on.

Meanwhile, Paraguay striker Raul Bobadilla penned a contract extension at Augsburg until 2018 only to be sent off just 45 minutes into the new Bundesliga season on Saturday in his team’s 1-0 defeat at home to Hertha Berlin.

Last season’s runners-up Wolfsburg are at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday, while Stuttgart are at home to Cologne.

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