DORTMUND: A resilient Borussia Dortmund staged a spectacular comeback to beat VfL Bochum 4-2 in the Bundesliga on Friday thanks to a double from Serhou Guirassy.

The win provisionally lifted Dortmund into second place on 10 points, two behind leaders Bayern Munich who face third-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

Matus Bero gave Bochum an early lead in the 16th minute, latching onto Philipp Hofmann’s incisive pass and slotting home past goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, who five minutes later was guilty of mis-handling a pass to attacker Dani de Wit to double the visitors’ advantage.

Nuri Sahin’s side looked increasingly desperate for a goal but were denied by a series of fine saves from goalkeeper Patrick Drewes, until new summer arrival Guirassy headed home from the centre of the area just before the break from midfielder Julian Brandt’s cross.

Dortmund put their attacking sloppiness behind them in the second half, creating more chances and levelling through Emre Can’s second-half penalty after Felix Passlack fouled Guirassy, who later scored his second in the 75th minute with a powerful finish from Karim Adeyemi’s through ball.

“Serhou is super,” Can told DAZN, adding “it’s great to have a player up front who’s always good for a goal.

“We wanted to get off to a good start in the game, but suddenly we were two goals behind. But we all knew that if we scored one goal before halftime, we would be in it.”

Substitute Felix Nmecha completed the rout with a long-range strike nine minutes from time as the hosts made amends for their first defeat of the season, a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of VfB Stuttgart on Sunday.

“We got hit early but we stayed clear in our minds. I don’t know if I can say it, but I think we deserved to win,” Dortmund boss Sahin added.

Dortmund will host Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday before facing Union Berlin in the German top flight four days later.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2024