Borussia Monchengladbach 1-3 Borussia Dortmund: Mkhitaryan masterminds splendid win

Posted Sunday, January 24, 2016 by Goal.com

Borussia Monchengladbach 1-3 Borussia Dortmund: Mkhitaryan masterminds splendid win
The Armenian tormented BVB's hosts all night, racking up a goal and assists to help Thomas Tuchel's men keep pace at the top of the Bundesliga

Henrikh Mkhitaryan proved instrumental as Borussia Dortmund stormed to a 3-1 Bundesliga win at Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday.

Thomas Tuchel's side were aiming to stay within six points of table-toppers Bayern Munich, but faced the threat of a revitalised Gladbach outfit.

But despite the early scare of Andreas Christensen's header coming off the woodwork, it was plain sailing for BVB with Marco Reus smashing in the opener before the break.

Mkhitaryan then got in on the act, making a magnificent run to latch onto Reus' ball to finish off a perfect counter-attack, before Raffael pulled one back for the hosts later.

However, any hopes of a comeback were extinguished when Mkhitaryan laid the ball on a plate for Ilkay Gundogan to round off the scoring, the Germany midfielder turning his team-mate's cross home to seal an emphatic victory.

Gladbach's pre-Christmas recovery from a woeful start to the campaign had lifted them into fourth, a position Schalke or Wolfsburg could snatch from them on Sunday.

The trajectory of the game could have been altered significantly, however, had home defender Christensen not somehow failed to put Gladbach in the sixth minute, as his six-yard header from Raffael's corner grazed the crossbar on its way over.

To set the tone for a rare off-colour outing, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scuffed a simple finish from Reus' centre in the ninth minute.

Home goalkeeper Yann Sommer was down quickly at the feet of Aubameyang in the 25th minute after a deflected shot made its way into the path of the Dortmund striker, while Gundogan flashed a stunning 25-yard effort off the crossbar as both teams continued to push hard for the opening goal.

Aubameyang's uncharacteristically sloppy display continued with a miscued attempt from Lukasz Piszczek's pass in the 35th minute but Dortmund were steadily taking full control of the encounter and they edged ahead with four minutes left before the break.

Gundogan's excellent throughball released Reus into the right channel, and the former Gladbach man finished with great composure across Sommer.

Ibrahima Traore almost caught Dortmund cold in the early moments of the second half when left unmarked inside the area, but visiting goalkeeper Roman Burki produced an excellent save to keep his side ahead.

And that save proved to be a crucial one when Mkhitaryan added a second just two minutes later. A savage Dortmund counter-attack began with Mats Hummels breaking up possession inside his own half and feeding Reus, who crossed for the unmarked Belarusian to slide a shot beyond Sommer.

The away side seemed to be in total control but Gladbach regained some hope in the 58th minute. Dortmund failed to make the most of two opportunities to clear from inside their own area and Raffael capitalised, taking one touch before firing left-footed beyond Burki from 12 yards out.

Aubemayang fluffed a third golden chance in the 73rd minute, skewing his shot horribly wide when one-on-one with Sommer.

But Gundogan made amends for his team-mate's mistake less than three minutes later as the midfielder tucked home Mkhitaryan's cross for Dortmund's 50th goal and 13th victory of the Bundesliga campaign.