It was a dream comeback for Marco Reus as Borussia Dortmund were on the right side of a goal fest at Signal Iduna Park. After 185 days out injured, Reus shone for the home side, scoring a hat-trick and providing an assist in what was a crazy game, finishing 8-4 to Borussia Dortmund over Polish side Legia Warsaw. Never before has there been more goals in a Champions League game. A draw against defending champions Real Madrid on December 7th will see Thomas Tuchel’s side finish top of their group.
Thanks to error-prone defences on both sides, it was raining goals in the first-half in Dortmund, which set a new record in the Champions League. This previous game with the most amount of goals was AS Monaco’s 8-3 win over Deportivo La Coruna in 2003.
BVB turn game on its head in blistering three minute spell
Shinji Kagawa (17’, 18’), Nuri Sahin (20’), Ousmane Dembélé (29’), Reus (32’, 52’, 90+3’) and Felix Passlack (81’) all managed to get on the scoresheet for Dortmund. Aleksander Prijovic (10’) put the away side into a shock 1-0 lead in front of 55,094 spectators, before scoring to pull the score back to 3-2 in the 24th minute. Prijovic had the chance to equalise in the 28th minute for Warsaw, but his shot hit the crossbar. Michal Kucharczyk (57’) and Nemanja Nikolic (83’) were also on target for the Poles.
BVB head coach, Thomas Tuchel, made several changes to the side that beat FC Bayern München 1-0 at the weekend. Only Marc Batra and World Champion Matthias Ginter remained in the starting eleven from Saturday’s top table clash. In goal, Roman Weidenfeller made his first appearance in the Champions League this season, as first-choice keeper Roman Bürki broke his hand against Bayern. It was Reus’ return that all the fans had been waiting for, however. The Germany international was spearheading a 4-1-4-1 formation and took the captain’s armband in Marcel Schmelzer’s absence.
Dortmund shine going forward, but struggle at the back
Just as in the 6-0 victory in the first game in Warsaw, Dortmund were hungry to score and at times were playing as if there was no Legia defence. The first goal fell the Poles’ way, however. Prijovic scored to the delight of the 300 travelling Warsaw fans, who, despite a UEFA-penalty for rioting in the first game between the sides, managed to find their way into the stadium.
After the surprising opener from the away side, Dortmund looked to bounce back quickly and found some joy down the wings. Kagawa scored to equalise for the home side, before putting his team into the lead just 78 seconds later. Sahin extended the lead to 3-1 moments later.
A vulnerable Dortmund defence then allowed Legia Prijovic to pull one back. The same player had a superb chance to equalise, but could only hit the bar. Reus then assisted Dembélé, who made it 4-2, before the captain scored himself minutes later (32’) for the first time in the Champions League since 24th February 2015.
Even after the half-time break, the goals kept coming. Reus extended BVB’s lead after a cross from Dembélé to make it 6-2. Kucharczyk then scored again for the visitors. Passlack added to Dortmund’s account, heading in the rebound from André Schürrle’s cross, before Reus sealed his hat-trick in injury time.