BIELEFELD, Germany (Reuters) – First half goals from Emre Can and Mats Hummels and a sensational effort by Jude Bellingham steered Borussia Dortmund to a comfortable 3-1 victory at Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday.
Playing without their injured top striker Erling Haaland, who will be sidelined for several weeks with a hip injury, Dortmund were never troubled as they secured their seventh league win from nine matches. They remain in second place with 21 points, one adrift of Bayern Munich who thumped Hoffenheim 4-0.
Following Dortmund’s 4-0 demolition by Ajax Amsterdam in midweek, the Ruhr valley club was desperate to make amends and had a pair of early chances with Donyell Malen.
Bielefeld, however, came even closer when Janni Serra pounced on a mistake by defender Marin Pongracic but he failed to beat Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel.
Dortmund opened the scoring with Can’s 31st minute penalty before they doubled their lead on the stroke of halftime with defender Hummels’ stunning 20-metre volley.
Bellingham made sure of the three points in the 73rd, dribbling past three players inside the box and then beautifully chipping the ball over the keeper for a remarkable goal by the 18-year-old.
A late penalty by Fabian Klos cut the deficit for the hosts but they remain in 17th place on five points.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
