Borussia beat the Iron Ones 3-0 and move up to third place | OneFootball

After three and a half months, competitive action finally returned to SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. The 81,365 spectators – 79,000 of whom were Black & Yellows – saw Serhou Guirassy convert Yan Couto's cross to make it 1-0 in the 44th minute, then add another for 2-0 on 58 minutes. Substitute Felix Nmecha rounded off the win 09 minutes before the end of normal time.

The scenario:   The fourth-placed team from last season were facing the 13th, who had not suffered more Bundesliga defeats to any other opponent – in two of their six matches in Köpenick and all six of their meetings in Dortmund.

Personnel matters:  The already announced absentees Emre Can, Julien Duranville, Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Süle were joined by Filippo Mane, who had been sent off away to FC St. Pauli. New signings Aaron Anselmino (starting line-up) and Carney Chukwuemeka (substitutes) were in the squad, while Fabio Silva missed out. In addition to Anselmino (for Mane), Julian Brandt (for Groß) and Maximilian Beier (for Adeyemi) also started.

Tactics:Both teams took to the field in a 3-3-2-2 formation and thus mirrored each other on the pitch, though the Berlin outfit took a man-marking approach. They defended with a back five (5-3-2) from which Doekhi broke free and pressed Beier.

The match & analysis:Borussia struggled to get going in attack in the opening 15 minutes. Union held their own, creating the first two shooting opportunities and defending alertly and compactly. Guirassy played himself into space on the right thanks to a one-two with Couto but his close-range shot from a tight angle went wide of the mark (16). A misplaced pass from Rothe allowed Guirassy to go clean through in the 23rd minute, but Union goalkeeper Rønnow did not allow himself to be nutmegged. A pass into the path of Brandt on the left would have been the much better option!

The build-up play had been too slow up to that point. There was no getting in behind. Though the ball found the Berlin side's net in the 32nd minute, Rønnow had been fouled by Anselmino during Couto's corner and Bensebaini's header was rightly disallowed. At the other end, BVB were lucky to see Ilic's shot roll past the right post after Anselmino had made his first mistake (41).

But now there was more intensity to the play. And that paid off immediately. Couto forayed down the right, beat Skov, cut inside and then crossed the ball left-footed into the six-yard box, where Guirassy beat Querfeld and fired the ball underneath the crossbar to make it 1-0 (44).

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Union also made the better start to the second half. Kobel made an outstanding save to keep out Ilic's header from close range (47) and then, when Union took another corner, the keeper made a double-save to deny Ilic and then Rothe (48). At this point, the visitors were 8-6 ahead in terms of shots on goal. Despite a brief spell of pressure towards the end of the first half, Dortmund's play was too sluggish with too many gaps at the back. But when they did play quickly and directly, they immediately pose a threat – and scored. Anselmino crossed the halfway line and passed centrally to Guirassy who touched the ball onto Beier on the left and then sprinted through the middle to slot home the return ball and make it 2-0 (58).

Union were now resigned and Borussia clearly dictating the play. When Svensson's corner was not cleared far enough, substitute Nmecha reacted the most decisively and thundered the ball low into the bottom right corner at 118km/h to make it 3-0.

Outlook:The league will pause this week for the international window. BVB will next be in action in Heidenheim on 13 September.Boris Rupert

Teams & goals

Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Anselmino (Ryerson, 76), Anton, Bensebaini – Couto, Sabitzer (Groß, 86), Svensson – Brandt, Bellingham (Nmecha, 71) – Guirassy (Adeyemi, 86), Beier (Chukwuemeka, 76)Union Berlin: Rönnow – Doekhi, Querfeld, Rothe – Trimmel (Skarke, 64), Khedira, Skov (Köhn, 69) – Kral (Kral, 64), Haberer (Kemlein, 82) – Ansah (Burke, 69), IlicSubstitutes: Meyer, Özcan, Campbell – Raab, Ogbemudia, Preu, Schäfer Goals: 1-0 Guirassy (Couto, 44), 2-0 Guirassy (Couto, 58), Nmecha (81)Corners: 4-6 (3-2 at half-time), chance count: 5-2 (3-1)Referee: Schlager (Gernsbach), yellow cards: noneAttendance: 81,365 (sold-out), weather: predominantly sunny, 26 degrees