When Borussia Dortmund took to the pitch without star striker Serhou Guirassy today against Mainz, I was quite concerned that the offense would struggle to create goals in his absence, and that if the defense
conceded BVB would be on the road to dropped points. Fortunately, neither of those concerns proved warranted: Dortmund collected their fourth clean sheet of the season, and an offensive corps spearheaded by Karim Adeyemi and Julian Brandt were able to get the goals they needed.
Here are my candidates for man of the match:
Karim Adeyemi
Adeyemi was able to use his pace to full effect. He beat Danny Da Costa to a loose ball and then exploded past him to charge in on goal before executing a give-and-go on Dortmund’s second goal. He then pounced on Gregor Kobel’s beautiful long ball, beating Mainz goalie Robin Zentner to the ball and forcing the keeper to miss the ball with his challenge, drawing a red card in the process and effectively sealing the game for Dortmund.
Julian Brandt
Brandt hit Daniel Svensson with an absolutely inch-perfect weighted pass and pulled off a textbook give-and-go with Adeyemi, giving him an assist for both goals.
Gregor Kobel
Kobel only made two saves and neither one was particularly hard, but I mainly want to highlight him for his absolutely ridiculous long-ball to Adeyemi. I cannot stress enough how inch-perfect it was despite being a 50-60 yard pass.
Waldemar Anton
There were a few times when Mainz grabbed the momentum in the middle portion of the game, and I though BVB were quite solid defensively. Waldemar Anton had a few key interceptions and generally looked very calm under pressure.
Your Pick
Who was your man of the match?
