Marco Reus' Return to Form Comes at Opportune Time for Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund head coach Thomas Tuchel was impressed with his No. 11 on Sunday, and rightly so. Marco Reus' performance was outstanding, as the 42-year-old told the media after the game, per local newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten on Twitter (link in German).

It's easy to forget now, but Reus' impressive game was almost cut short very early: He seemed to pick up a knock to his foot 60 seconds into the match. Many supporters of the Black and Yellows will have thought to themselves, "here we go again."

The attacking midfielder's susceptibility to contact injuries has been well-documented. Bleacher Report's Daniel Tiluk noted on the subject in September 2015: "Alaskan king-crab fishermen are thought to have Earth's most dangerous job, but give them Borussia Dortmund's No. 11 shirt and statisticians might revise their thinking," adding that his "body has transformed into the Bundesliga's best defender and his own worst enemy."

Against FSV Mainz, however, the pain subsided and Reus carried on. 

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

There's your reason Dortmund beat the Zerofivers. It was he who opened the scoring, as so often, per the club's official website: "32 of Marco Reus' 72 goals for BVB have been the first of the game. It was his sixth opening goal of the current Bundesliga season—more than any other player in the league."

The video below shows how cool, calm and collected Reus was in slotting home the first true scoring chance for the Black and Yellows:

Of course, much of the credit for the goal belongs to Gonzalo Castro, who picked up the ball at the halfway line, moved past a couple of opponents with ease and sent Reus on his way with a delightfully weighted through ball.

YellowWallpod.com's Luca Gierl was as impressed by the 28-year-old's assist as everyone else:

"

I thought that was the kind of stuff only Gündoğan and Mkhitaryan could do for us.

— Luca (@luc_bvb) March 13, 2016"

Reus may not be able to claim much of the goal as his own work, but he still gave a marvellous performance. Jurgen Koers of Ruhr Nachrichten (link in German) rated him as the man of the match with a grade that translates to nine out of 10, a thought echoed by Stefan Buczko of ESPN FC.

WhoScored.com have him down for six key passes, tied for the lead with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, while he completed almost 89 per cent of his passes and accumulated 60 touches. It shows how involved Reus was with almost every attack the Black and Yellows played out. He and Marcel Schmelzer constantly won their matchups on the left side of Dortmund's attack.

Having scored a brace in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie with Tottenham Hotspur four days prior to the win over Mainz, Reus seems to be hitting his stride after some rather pedestrian performances in the first few matches of 2016.

SASCHA SCHUERMANN/Getty Images

It comes at an opportune time for his club, seeing as the Black and Yellows hope to have a busy schedule until May: They could play up to 16 games if all goes well. 

The Bundesliga title is arguably out of reach despite Dortmund having Bayern still in their sights at a five-point deficit, but the Europa League and DFB-Pokal are there for the taking.

Adding a Reus on top of his game to an already-impressive team since the turn of the year—they're still unbeaten in all competitions and have now kept 10 clean sheets in 13 matches—must be a scary thought for every potential opponent.

If the 26-year-old stays fit—granted, that's always a big if—there's no reason to expect he won't lift his first big trophy with the Black and Yellows. He's been almost an unlucky charm for his boyhood club, seeing as Dortmund have lost a final in every year Reus has spent with the club as a professional footballer.

With performances like the one against Mainz on Sunday, the time is right for him to finally beat the curse.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.