Dortmund maintain perfect record with narrow win over Stuttgart
| Sona Maleterova/Getty Images |
Borussia Dortmund regained the Bundesliga's top spot after a narrow win at Stuttgart. Niko Kovac’s side have won each of their first four league games before the season’s first international break. Champions League participants Stuttgart already suffered three defeats.
There is usually end-to-end action between these two teams, but the first-half lacked quality at either box. The physical battle resulted in three yellow cards, while there was no clear-cut goalscoring chance.
Bilal El Khannouss’ misguided header was the closest the hosts came to scoring, while Serhou Guirassy had a difficult 45 minutes against his former club. Joey Veerman’s name was added in the referee’s book right after the restart.
Five minutes later, Ethan Nwaneri had the ball in the net, but he was clearly in an offside position. The Arsenal loanee was replaced by the returnee Konstantinos Karetsas in one of Kovac’s first two changes in the hour mark as Jobe Bellingham also entered the scene.
The duo combined well to break the deadlock less than ten minutes later. Maximilian Beier scored his first goal of the season with a one-touch finish from Bellingham’s cutback from the right flank.
Moments later, Karetsas had a golden opportunity to double BVB’s lead from a counter, but his effort narrowly missed the target. At the other end, Gregor Kobel made his first saves of the night to deny Joshua Vagnoman and El Khannouss.
Substitute Fabio Silva also failed to seal the points for the visitors as they entered the last ten minutes with a slender lead. However, they held on to maintain their perfect start to the campaign with Kobel’s third clean sheet.
Dortmund will host Werder Bremen when league action resumes after the extended international break. Stuttgart will face newly-promoted Paderborn in matchday 5.
