Borussia Dortmund too sharp for Hamburg as Bundesliga start ends in 2-0 win
Borussia Dortmund opened another Bundesliga season with another win, beating Hamburg 2-0 despite having to ride out late tension after a red card.
The result shows that Dortmund have now won their opening league match for twelve seasons and Dortmunds unbeaten run against Hamburg has been extended to eight games.
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Niko Kovacs selection paid off early. Dortmunds coach started two Greek wide players on either side of Serhou Guirassy and the move worked almost immediately.
Within the ten minutes Konstantinos Karetsas passed neatly to Guirassy, who turned the ball onto his right foot near the edge of the box and shot a superb finish into the far corner.
From there much of the half went Dortmunds way. Dortmunds passing was cleaner Dortmunds movement. Dortmunds attacking play far more threatening, even though Dortmund took a while to turn that control into a bigger lead.
Daniel Heuer Fernandes kept Hamburg alive. The goalkeeper produced saves to deny Felix Nmecha and Karetsas and the rest of the Hamburg side barely threatened until the final five minutes of the half when Gregor Kobel was finally called into action.
Giannis Konstantelias burst onto a pass from Maximilian Beier. Drove into the area and although Sebastiaan Bornauw got a heavy touch on the shot he only succeeded in diverting it into the far corner.
That made the score 2-0. Left Hamburg with a real uphill fight.
After time the pattern did not change much. Dortmund stayed on top although Konstantelias sent one effort wide before coming off with what looked like a minor injury.
Around the hour mark Patson Daka wasted two chances, including a curling effort that clipped the outside of the post.
Those moments at least gave the Hamburg visitors a belief that the game was not completely dead.
Substitute Samuele Inacio was sent off for a challenge on Albert Gronbaek giving Hamburg a man advantage and a flicker of hope.
Hamburg pushed forward. Clear finishing still escaped them with both Gronbaek and Albert Sambi Lokonga missing decent openings.
After building season around clean sheets this was Dortmunds first shutout of the new campaign and the 20 shots they produced across the match also showed the attacking intent still running through the side.
For Hamburg there are already signs that the second season back in the flight could be even rougher, than the first.
A number of departures and limited new arrivals mean young academy players, including 16-year-old Louis Lemke may have to grow up fast.
