Match report

HSV beaten 2-0 in Dortmund

Hamburger SV were unable to bring any points home from Dortmund on Saturday afternoon, losing 2-0 after second-half goals from Michy Batshuayi and Mario Götze.

Matchday 22 saw HSV suffer their first defeat under Bernd Hollerbach. The Rothosen put up a good fight against Borussia Dortmund at the sold-out Signal-Iduna-Park, but were unable to find a way past Roman Bürki. BVB struck twice after the break, first through Michy Batshuayi and then late on courtesy of Mario Götze, to wrap up a 2-0 win.

Mergim Mavraj & Co. stood firm against the returning Marco Reus and the rest of BVB's attack in the first half, but couldn't keep them at bay for 90 minutes.

Solid first half...

HSV coach Bernd Hollerbach made some defensive alterations to the side that started against Hannover, with the suspended Kyriakos Papadopoulos replaced by Mergim Mavraj. The fit-again Gideon Jung also returned to the back four, with Gotoku Sakai moving out to the right and Dennis Diekmeier dropping to the bench. There were no other changes in front or behind the back four. Hamburg looked to play with a compact setup and they managed to keep BVB at bay in the first half, despite star attacker Marco Reus returning to their starting XI after several months out injured. At the other end, the Rothosen were creating the occasional chance on the counter, and also carried a threat from set pieces. Walace and Bobby Wood came closest to scoring, but neither were able to force Roman Bürki into action. HSV could have been considered the better side in the opening 45 minutes, remaining solid defensively and continuing to ask questions of the BVB defence. Borussia’s only real opportunity came just before the interval, but captain Sakai was quick to clear ahead of Reus and André Schürrle.

Sejad Salihovic almost levelled the scores in the closing stages, but the ball just wouldn’t sit right.

...BVB clinch it late on

However, it wasn’t long before Mathenia did have to pick the ball out of his net, despite Hamburg arguably looking the more likely to score early in the second half. Christian Pulisic wasn’t closed down quickly enough and his low ball across the penalty area was turned in at the far post by Michy Batshuayi in the 49th minute for his third BVB goal in only his second game. It was an early setback for Hollerbach’s men in the second half, and the coach opted to change things up in search of an equaliser, with Fiete Arp, Sejad Salihovic and – shortly after – André Hahn all introduced. With around 15 minutes to play, Hahn and Arp both had good chances to level the scores too, but while the former failed to get enough on his snapshot to seriously trouble Bürki, the latter was only inches away from connecting with Sakai’s ball across the six-yard box. HSV’s necessary offensive approach of course opened up space for Dortmund to attack into as well, although a number of chances went begging for the hosts. They finally did wrap up the three points in added time, however, when Mario Götze dinked Schürrle’s through-ball over Mathenia and into the back of the net HSV.

MATCH FACTS:

Borussia Dortmund: Bürki - Piszczek, Akanji, Toprak, Toljan - Weigl - Pulisic (85’ Castro), Kagawa (62’ Dahoud), Reus (71’ Götze), Schürrle - Batshuayi

Hamburger SV: Mathenia - Sakai, Mavraj, Jung, van Drongelen, Douglas - Ekdal (71’ Hahn), Hunt (54’ Salihovic), Walace - Wood (54’ Arp), Kostic

Goals: 1-0 Batshuayi (49’), 2-0 Götze (92’)

Attendance: 81,360 (sold-out)

Referee: Marco Fritz (Korb)

Yellow Cards: - / Jung