Borussia Dortmund Bounce Back in Bundesliga with Goals and Points Aplenty

Borussia Dortmund fought to a well-earned 3-2 win over Hannover on Saturday afternoon, regaining some of the honor and prestige that has recently been lacking in their European and domestic adventures.

Jurgen Klopp's side certainly made hard work of a team that has not won in 10 league matches, and they had to wait until the home side were reduced to 10 men to retake the lead in the second half, but all three points were ultimately theirs.

The result leaves the Black and Yellows five points off a Europa League spot, which has come to represent the best hopes of a fanbase that has gone through so much this season. Dortmund have had their ups and downs in the league, but finishing in a European qualification spot would go some way to rectifying the time and progress lost in the lower reaches of the Bundesliga this campaign. 

Dortmund had not scored in over 270 minutes of football prior to Saturday's clash, so the attacking potency of Klopp's lineup on the day was always going to be of utmost importance and undoubtedly a point of scrutiny had the former German champions lost the game.

Fortunately, the traveling side started brightly, featuring the refreshing faces of Jakub Blaszczykowski and Shinji Kagawa in midfield and the unfamiliar sight of a fully fit and match-ready Marco Reus. 

That combination offered plenty of options up front, and it was not too long before Dortmund opened the scoring. A wonderful counter-attack in the 18th minute saw Reus move inside and play Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through to calmly finish.

In a manner only too befitting of the mayhem that has epitomised this Dortmund side over the course of this season, former youth player Leon Bittencourt returned the favour for Hannover with some exquisite wing play to assist for Lars Stindl just 12 minutes later.

Moments later, the winger broke through once more, again taking advantage of the space left by Oliver Kirch at right-back, but he failed to fully capitalise and blasted a shot wide.

Dortmund went into the break level but shaken by the prospect of another upset on the road.

The second half started in a similar fashion to how the first ended, with Hannover once again peppering the Dortmund defence with chance after chance. Under the strain of a rejuvenated home side, Klopp's makeshift defence, featuring Sokratis Papastathopoulos at left-back and Kirch on the right, truly began to show its deficiencies.

Mats Hummels cleared a shot off the line in the 52nd minute, an act that summed up his side's start to the second 45.

Yet a spot of fortune then broke in Dortmund's favour—a rarity this season if you were to ask most fans at the Westfalenstadion on any given matchday—when Bittencourt picked up a second yellow just two minutes after the home side could have taken the lead. It was then when the tide began to turn. 

Klopp reacted immediately by bringing on the talented—and more importantly, left-footed—Jeremy Dudziak for Kirch, meaning Sokratis could move over to his preferred right-hand side. Dortmund finally looked balanced at the back and started moving the ball up the park with pace and purpose.

It took only 180 seconds for BVB to regain their lead, when Blaszczykowski made ​​a signature run up the right wing, cut the ball back to Reus, who in turn played through Kagawa to finish the move. 

The goal clearly lifted the Japan international from a malaise that has haunted him for the past month or so, as he then set up Aubameyang for his second and Dortmund's third just four minutes later.

The talented attacking midfielder's assist was truly a sight to behold; he danced through the Hannover defence on the left wing before playing the ball with the outside of his foot across the goalmouth and onto the head of a diving Aubameyang.

It was a move that any strike partnership would have been proud of—and a goal that would have reminded most of the Dortmund fans in the stadium how great this team once were. 

Within eight minutes of Hummels clearing a shot off his 'keeper's line, Dortmund had gone two goals up and had a man advantage.

Stindl added a second 10 minutes from time with a shot few goalkeepers would even attempt to save, which put the travelling side on the back foot for the closing stages of the game. Ultimately, however, all three points belonged to the bruised and battered egos in yellow. 

March has not been kind to the former Bundesliga champions, and with Bayern Munich next up on April 4, they may not be out of the woods just yet. But following a week that saw Klopp and his troubled side give up on their hopes of Champions League success, fans were able to go home with smiles on their faces.

Another three points for Dortmund and a rare opportunity to be hopeful in this darkest of seasons.

Sbienkowski