Bundesliga action returned after a long winter break in a big way as Gio Reyna came up big for Borussia Dortmund by scoring the game-winner in their game against Augsburg.
Borussia Dortmund 4-3 Augsburg
Gio Reyna closed out the noise from the controversy about the U.S. men’s national team to come off the bench and score the game-winner over Augsburg in a seven-goal thriller at Signal Iduna Park.
Reyna would play the final 20 minutes of the contest, completing 79 percent of his passes, winning four duels, and making two tackles along with one shot.
After a 72-day layoff, no one would have expected the excitement that was in store throughout the league, especially this game.
The hosts opened the scoring in the 29th minute when Karim Adeyemi set up June Bellingham for the strike. The Englishman collected the ball at the edge of the area and feinted to the left before going right to put a powerful shot past Augsburg goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz.
Augsburg leveled the score in the 40th minute through Arne Maier as they forced BVB to turn over the ball in their own end.
Nico Schlotterbeck restored Dortmund’s lead two minutes later when he was left wide open in the area to head in Julian Brandt’s free-kick. Then, Augsburg once again found the equalizer in the first minute of first-half stoppage time when Ermedin Demirovic was played the ball by Arne Engels before slotting it home.
If the first half provided that much excitement, fans were in for a treat when both teams came out for the second interval.
The hosts retook the lead in the 75th minute when Jamie Bynoe-Gittens toyed with two Augsburg defenders on the edge of the area before curling his shot around Gikiewicz. However, they would turn the ball over again to allow their opponents to tie up the score just seconds after the restart. Kelvin Yeboah’s shot came crashing off the post, but the rebound came directly to David Colina to put in the goal.
However, Reyna, who entered the game in the 70th minute, would have the last word as he scored a sublime goal to guarantee all three points for the hosts. Schlotterbeck’s diagonal ball from the back was headed by Bellingham to the young American out wide to the right. He gained control of the ball before unleashing a half-volley over the outstretched hand of Gikiewicz.
The win leaves Borussia Dortmund in sixth place with 28 points.
Wolfsburg 6-0 Freiburg
Wolfsburg was firing on all cylinders and Freiburg had no answers on the day as the hosts came away with a hug win at the Volkswagen Arena.
Kevin Paredes came off the bench to play 22 minutes, completing 80 percent of his passess, winning three duels, and made one tackle.
The Wolves hit the ground running just seconds into the contest when Patrick Wimmer broke clear to run onto a pass from Yannick Gerhardt to score his first. Jonas Wind doubled their lead in the 28th minute when he headed in a lobbed pass from Wimmer.
Wind put the hosts up 3-0 nine minutes later as he guided in a low cross from Mickey van de Ven.
Wolfsburg kept their domination going into the second half as Gerhardt got his name on the scoresheet in the 56th minute. A poor throw-in from Freiburg allowed the hosts to pounce, with the German midfielder making it count in the end.
It was then time for the substitute to shine as Paredes came on to provide the assist for Ridle Baku as Wolfsburg extended their lead further. The young American was left with all the time in the world to send his cross into the area from the left side and the German stuck the ball into the roof of the net.
Luca Waldschmidt converted a penalty in the 94th minute to rub more salt in the gapping wound that Freiburg suffered on the day as they completely outclassed by their opponents.
Wolfsburg sits in seventh place in the standings with 26 points.
Notes
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Jordan Pefok played 63 minutes and missed a penalty, but Union Berlin still came away with a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim.
Joe Scally came off the bench to play 34 minutes for Borussia Monchengladbach as they suffered a narrow 3-2 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
Tim Chandler watched on from the bench as Eintracht Frankfurt blanked Schalke in a 3-0 win.
Down in the 3. Liga, Justin Butler played the entire first half and scored a goal, while Jalen Hawkins came on to play the final eight minutes for Ingolstadt in the 4-3 loss to Elversberg.
Johan Gomez played the entire first half for Zwickau as they were beaten by 1860 Munich by a 3-1 scoreline.
Mael Corboz went the distance for Verl and Isaiah Young played 77 minutes for Rot-Weiss Essen as both sides shared the points following a 1-1 draw.
