Borussia Dortmund vs. Wolfsberger: Winners and Losers from Europa League
Borussia Dortmund coasted into the next round of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening by destroying Wolfsberger 5-0 (6-0 on aggregate).
A goalless first half irritated the Signal Iduna Park, but Marco Reus broke the deadlock just three minutes into the second period and the floodgates soon opened. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted to kill the tie off, then Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored a magnificent hat-trick to boost his own stock ahead of the new campaign.
Here, B/R picks out its winners and losers.
Winner: Ilkay Gundogan
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Ilkay Gundogan has had a rough two years, but if his performance on Thursday against Wolfsberger is anything to go by, he means business in 2015-16.
The German appears fully recovered from spinal injuries that have wrecked 24 prime months of his career, showing mobility, confidence and a lovely touch to boot. His cross-field switch passing was to die for, and he instigated several attacks and threaded accurate efforts into tight spaces time after time.
Wolfsberger dropped deep and played compact football, but Gundogan eventually picked the lock.
Loser: Marius Avram
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Archie Rhind-Tutt of BT Sport rightly felt it necessary to draw people's attention to the referee for the evening's game, Marius Avram, because of his catastrophically poor performance.
The players departed at half-time (with the score at 0-0) to a round of voracious boos from the terraces, but they weren't targeted at the men in yellow or white, they were solely for the man in black.
Avram dished out a number of questionable yellow cards, with Marco Reus entering the book for absolutely no reason whilst attempting to break through on goal the pick of the bunch. He also missed a stonewall penalty after goalkeeper Alexander Kofler wiped Reus out in the box whilst preparing to pull the trigger, taking all of the man and precisely none of the ball.
BVB's second-half flurry rendered the shocking showing obsolete, but for 45 minutes it looked as though Avram might make things unnecessarily uncomfortable for the hosts.
Winner: Marco Reus
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Things didn't really go to plan for Marco Reus last season either; his frail ankles kept letting him down. He had six weeks out here, four weeks out there, and he couldn't be the saviour Borussia Dortmund needed.
But like Ilkay Gundogan, he appears to be primed for a season of responsibility, should fitness allow. Reus left to an ovation from Signal Iduna Park and for good reason: He broke the deadlock early in the second half by sweeping home one-on-one and looked the most likely to make something happen in the first period.
His good runs were picked out, he wreaked havoc in the channels, and he created several strong chances by the hitting the byline and crossing.
He's a devastating player when fit and firing—one of the best in the world, some would still argue—and if he strings together an uninterrupted season, Dortmund can lay a claim to one of the four Champions League places the Bundesliga offers.
If Reus can steer clear of ailments, Thomas Tuchel will be one giant step closer to steering BVB back to the elite.
Loser: Michael Berger
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Michael Berger had an absolutely shocking night. If the team sheet hadn't 100 percent confirmed he was on the pitch, you'd get away with thinking he simply forgot to turn up for the game.
Time and time again Borussia Dortmund attacked the left-hand side, and while there's an obvious gap in quality—plus the fact Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marco Reus, Marcel Schmelzer and Shinji Kagawa can be pretty difficult to contain—Berger was ripped to pieces all evening.
As the clock ticked on and the legs tired, Mkhitaryan was able to find 10-15 yards of space on the left wing, cut inside and deal damage—it's how he scored his beautiful second goal.
Winner: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
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Henrikh Mkhitaryan was an expensive transfer post-Mario Gotze and he hasn't yet lived up to the price tag. He tries and tries, then tries some more, and while the Signal Iduna Park crowd appreciate his efforts, they want far more when it comes to end-product.
His 13-minute hat-trick in the second half against Wolfsberger served as a taster for what the Armenian is capable of, and boy what a trio of goals he scored. The first two were absolute scorchers—one from 25 yards, one from an acute angle at the near post—and his third a nice roller from outside the box.
As ESPNFC's Stefan Buczko noted on Twitter, the No. 10 couldn't help but break out into a wry smile on the pitch after his third. Everyone in that stadium was delighted to see him play to his devastating potential.
"Mkhitaryan is an absolute role model professional. We are glad to have him in the team. It's a great joy to work with him," manager Thomas Tuchel told reporters after the game, per Buczko. It appears he's central to the plan to revive BVB and has won the confidence of the new man at the helm.
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