Borussia Dortmund 3 Wolfsburg 0: Piszczek stars with Yellow Wall absent

Lukasz Piszczek scored once and had a hand in two more to help Borussia Dortmund to a 3-0 Bundesliga victory over Wolfsburg at Signal Iduna Park as they returned to winning ways after a disappointing week.

Jeffrey Bruma inexplicably headed the ball into his own net in the 20th minute, with Polish wing-back Piszczek adding his name to the scoresheet early in the second half, before Ousmane Dembele put the match to bed on the hour mark.

Dortmund have endured a difficult few days ahead of Saturday’s encounter as they followed up a shock domestic loss to bottom club Darmstadt last week with a Champions League defeat to Benfica.

To make matters even worse, Dortmund were handed a partial stadium closure following the incidents during the match against RB Leipzig this month, meaning they took on Wolfsburg in front of an empty south stand, known as the ‘Yellow Wall’.

The reduced capacity did not stop them from putting in a dominant performance, though, as they dictated play from start to finish and eventually cruised to a comfortable win.

This weekend’s results see Dortmund leapfrog Eintracht Frankfurt into third place in the table with 37 points from 21 games.

Dortmund were well in control in the opening stages of the first half and they created a number of chances to break the deadlock early on.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang threatened in the seventh minute with a low shot from inside the area after some good work from Piszczek and Marco Reus tested Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio with a powerful effort from 20 yards out after cutting in from the left.

Aubameyang was denied by Benaglio a second time but there was nothing the shot stopper could do to prevent the opener in the 20th minute when Bruma found his own net in bizarre fashion.

JAAAAAAAAA! #bvbwob 1-0 pic.twitter.com/xRS2prxp68

— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) February 18, 2017

Piszczek did well to keep the ball alive after a corner from the left and tap it back across the face of goal, where the Netherlands international headed beyond Benaglio to gift Dortmund the opener.

Wolfsburg struggled to get out of their own half before the break, yet they nearly equalised against the run of play in the closing stages of the first half, Yunus Malli shooting narrowly wide after being set up by Vieirinha.

The hosts immediately pushed for a second goal after the restart and it came in the 48th minute through Piszczek, who headed home from close range after Matthias Ginter had inadvertently volleyed Dembele’s cross in his direction.

Things went from bad to worse for Wolfsburg from there on and Dembele made it three when he beat Benaglio with a fine header after Piszczek’s cross from the right.

Daniel Didavi went close to pulling one back for the visitors with 20 minutes left, only to be thwarted as Roman Burki turned his effort behind.

Dortmund did have the ball in the net for a fourth time but Aubameyang was well offside as the hosts delighted the fans who were able to attend with a performance that marked an impressive return to form.

Key Opta stats:

– Dortmund have lost none of their last 31 Bundesliga home games (25 wins, 6 draws), extending a club record run.

– Defender Lukasz Piszczek scored his fifth Bundesliga goal of the season, a personal best – he has more goals than offensive star players Marco Reus (2), Andre Schurrle and Mario Gotze (1 each) put together.

– For the first time in nearly four years (March 2013, 2-1 at Stuttgart), Piszczek scored and assisted on a goal in the same Bundesliga game.

– In his team-leading 31 appearances in all competitions in 2016-17 for Dortmund, Ousmane Dembele has had a hand in 19 goals (6 goals, 13 assists).