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Pre-Season Friendly: FC Basel 1 Borussia Dortmund 3

SoccerNews in General Soccer News 10 Jul 2013

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Henrikh Mkhitaryan enjoyed an impressive debut for Borussia Dortmund as he grabbed a goal and an assist in a 3-1 friendly win over Basel.

The Armenian, who only completed his switch to the Bundesliga side on Monday, set up Marco Reus to score an early goal before producing a fine left-footed finish after Fabian Schar had levelled for the hosts on Wednedsday.

And, with ex-Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Mkhitaryan long since withdrawn as one of numerous changes, Jonas Hofmann completed the scoring for Juergen Klopp’s men with some fine control and a cool finish in the second period.

Dortmund named a strong team ahead of the fixture at St Jakob-Park, with recent arrivals Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Mkhitaryan backed by stalwarts such as Roman Weidenfeller, Nuri Sahin and Robert Lewandowski.

A combination of old and new soon brought about the first goal, with Mkhitaryan bursting through on the right before teeing up Reus for an easy tap-in from close range.

But Basel were soon back on terms, as a free-kick from the right was nodded in by a grateful Schar.

There was still time for Mkhitaryan to put a further stamp on the half, however, as he linked up brilliantly with Sahin before half-volleying into the far corner from the left.

Klopp made nine changes to his team at the break, and the game lost some of its fluency as a result.

However, the 2013 UEFA Champions League finalists would round off their victory with a moment of brilliance in the dying moments.

Hofmann pulled off a fantastic touch to push a cross-field ball past a despairing Basel defender before showing the presence of mind to pass the ball home and complete the win.

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