Borussia Dortmund Defeat Mainz 05, Claim Top Spot

Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund won the battle of first against second in the Bundesliga as they beat Mainz 05 two-nil with goals from Mario Götze and Lucas Barrios at the Stadion am Bruchweg. The visitors had been sloppy in the early minutes and Mainz looked the more assured of the two sides in front of their raucous home crowd, but the first real chance fell to Barrios on fourteen minutes. He was clean through after a good through ball by Sven Bender, and his shot rolled just wide of Christian Wetklo’s goal. Mainz were nearly caught out again shortly afterward, Wetklo conceding a corner after failing to control Nikolce Noveski’s backpass.

Götze, playing on the right wing in place of the injured Jakub Blaszczykowski, forced more action from the Mainz ‘keeper on twenty minutes, as his shot was well saved. However, Wetklo would have no answer a few minutes later as BVB’s Shinji Kagawa seized on a stray pass by Niko Bungert and Nuri Sahin set up Götze for the opener. Mainz responded poorly to going behind, and Dortmund controlled the balance of the first half, nearly grabbing a second from a corner as Barrios’ flick on to Neven Subotic’s header cracked against the post.

The match came to life in the second half, and Thomas Tuchel’s charges looked much more aggressive after the re-start. Their attacking intent was rewarded just two minutes after halftime with a penalty; Subotic lunged in on Adam Szalai in the area, and though the ball had already gone, referee Michael Weiner pointed to the spot. Eugen Polanski stepped up to take the penalty, but his poor effort was saved by Roman Wiedenfeller. Unbowed, Mainz continued to search for an equalizer, led by the exquisite play of Lewis Holtby. Their efforts were not enough - despite some good passing moves the home side failed to create clear chances and Barrios punished them on sixty-seven minutes. Götze, this time the provider, slid a short diagonal ball to the striker, who dribbled around Wetklo and smashed in the second. Dortmund were in control after their second goal, and despite the introductions of Andre Schürrle and Andreas Ivanschitz, Mainz could not break down the visitors, who took over top spot from them and, more importantly, took a big step towards the meisterschaft.

In other Bundesliga action, an assured performance from Bayer Leverkusen gave them a one-nil win over struggling Schalke 04 on Saturday, and Hoffenheim demolished Hannover 96 four-nil for the final match of the weekend. Schalke, still without a win at the Veltins Arena this season, controlled much of the match but failed to turn their possession into chances, and were punished by an excellent goal from Sidney Sam in the second half. Leverkusen, still severely hampered by injuries, moved up to fourth in the table, while Schalke remain in seventeenth. In the late kickoff on Sunday, Hannover’s Manuel Schmeidebach was given a second yellow card after just nineteen minutes, and Hoffenheim turned their numerical dominance into goals. Gylfi Sigurdsson scored either side of halftime, Demba Ba netted his sixth goal in as many games, and Peniel Mlapa completed the rout with a fourth goal to move Hoffenheim into third place, six points behind Mainz in second.