14 February 2015
Borussia Dortmund maintained their upward trajectory by climbing further clear of the relegation zone with last night’s 4-2 win over Mainz at the Westfalenstadion – their first home victory of the calendar year.
Having rediscovered the winning feeling in last week’s 3-0 away success over Freiburg, Jurgen Klopp’s men were widely expected to make it two triumphs in the space of six days when the 13th-placed visitors made the trip north to Dortmund.
But the 80,000 home crowd was silenced inside the opening 53 seconds when Elkin Soto capitalised on a Roman Weidenfeller mistake to stroke the ball into an empty net from the edge of the box.
A half-time Klopp pep talk seemed to do the trick as Dortmund came out all guns blazing, Neven Subotic heading home inside the opening five minutes of the second period to spark wild celebrations inside the Westfalenstadion.
Moments later Marco Reus celebrated signing his new contract in style by firing home to put the hosts in front, only for Yunus Malli to ramp up the tension with a Mainz equaliser just 60 seconds later.
Goalscorer Reus then turned provider to help regain Dortmund’s lead on 71 minutes, splitting the defence with a sumptuous through ball for Pierre-Emerick Obameyang to convert.
And any jitters were finally calmed seven minutes later when Nuri Sahin sealed a second consecutive victory that lifts Klopp’s men into 14th place with 22 points.
Their last Bundesliga fixture ahead of the Champions League last 16 first leg meeting with Juventus sees them travel to bottom of the pile Stuttgart on Friday 20 February.
