Borussia Dortmund struck three times in five first-half minutes to secure a 3-1 win at Wolfsburg on Sunday and climb to sixth in the Bundesliga.
2024/2025 Bundesliga
1-3
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
0' Match Event for Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
1' Highlight from Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
15' Match Event for Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
18' Match Event for Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
25' GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-1 Dortmund (Donyell Malen)
28' GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-2 Dortmund (Maximilian Beier)
30' GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-3 Dortmund (Julian Brandt)
34' Match Event for Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
49' Highlight from Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
52' Match Event for Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
53' Highlight from Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
58' GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-3 Dortmund (Denis Vavro)
62' Red Card! Pascal Groß sent off
66' Highlight from Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
68' Match Event for Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
72' Highlight from Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
83' Highlight from Wolfsburg vs Dortmund
Match Report
Donyell Malen marked his return to Dortmund's starting lineup in style, opening the scoring with a close-range volley following a corner in the 25th minute.
Maximilian Beier doubled the lead just three minutes later when his superb finish ricocheted in off the post.
The forward then set up Julian Brandt, who returned to action after a month out injured, to drill it in from the edge of the box on the half-hour mark.
The hosts pulled one back with a Denis Vavro header from a corner in the 58th minute but failed to find another even after Dortmund were reduced to 10 men four minutes later; Pascal Gross was sent off for a last-man foul on substitute Lukas Nmecha.
Dortmund moved to 25 points and sit in the last European spot, while Wolfsburg remain 11th with 21 points.
Ending the year on a high note! pic.twitter.com/A1989YaF5W
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) December 22, 2024
Data Debrief: Finishing the year on a high
Prior to this game, Dortmund had picked up just two points from their Bundesliga away matches this season, their worst return from their first six games on the road in 33 years (also two points in 1991-92).
In fact, this is their first away victory since April 13, when they beat Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1, snapping an eight-match run without a win.
They had work to do after Gross' red card but triumphed in their final game of a calendar year for the first time since 2018 (D1 L4).
That is partly down to Brandt's excellent work in the first half,as he scored and assisted in the same Bundesliga match for Dortmund for the first time (171 appearances).
Line-ups
Wolfsburg XI: M. Arnold, Gerhardt, Vavro, Svanberg, Grabara, Joakim Maehle, Ridle Baku, Jonas Wind, Kilian Fischer, Konstantinos Koulierakis, Mohamed Amoura
Subs: Kevin Behrens, Marius Müller, Nmecha, Özcan, Cédric Zesiger, Jakub Kaminski, Patrick Wimmer, Tiago Tomás, Bence Dárdai
Dortmund XI: Gross, Emre Can, Brandt, Guirassy, Gregor Kobel, Bensebaini, Donyell Malen, Nico Schlotterbeck, Maximilian Beier, Felix Nmecha, Jamie Gittens
Subs: Alexander Meyer, Anton, Reyna, Karim Adeyemi, Yan Couto, Ayman Azhil, Julien Duranville, Almugera Kabar