BERLIN: Germany midfielder Marco Reus scored one goal and set up another in three minutes as Borussia Dortmund survived a late comeback to beat Augsburg 3-2 on Friday and bounce back from an opening Bundesliga defeat last week.
Reus, who was unlucky to miss Germany’s World Cup-winning campaign after being injured in their final warm-up game, opened the scoring in the 11th, playing a one-two with Kevin Grosskreutz and beating Marwin Hitz in goal with a lovely finish and then his corner from the right was headed home by Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos four minutes later.
Substitute Adrian Ramos all but sealed the result in the 78th however Augsburg striker Raul Bobadilla pulled one back with eight minutes to play and Tim Matavz ensured a frenetic finale by scoring with a minute remaining.
Dortmund, though, held on with goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller denying Tobias Werner an equaliser in injury time for their first league win after their 2-0 opening defeat by Bayer Leverkusen. “I am happy to be playing again and helping the team,” Reus told reporters. “We still have a lot of work to do, that was visible late in the second half. When you drop your level a few percent then you will be punished. So, the work continues.”
MARSEILLE ROUT NICE IN MEDITERRANEAN DERBY
MARSEILLE: Olympique Marseille appear to be finding their stride under new coach Marcelo Bielsa after outclassing Mediterranean rivals Nice 4-0 at the Stade Velodrome on Friday for a second straight victory in Ligue 1 and recover from a sluggish start to the season.
A brace from Dimitri Payet and further strikes from Florian Thauvin and Abdelaziz Barrada allowed Marseille move provisionally into third place in the table with seven points from four games ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.
Bielsa’s methods had been called into question after Marseille took just one point from their opening two games of the campaign but they recorded a narrow 1-0 win at Guingamp last weekend and were far too strong for Claude Puel’s Nice at the newly refurbished Velodrome.
Payet opened the scoring with a low strike in the 20th minute and Florian Thauvin doubled the lead from close range on the stroke of half-time before setting up Payet, who made it 3-0 with a diving header in the 48th with substitute Abdelaziz Barrada completing the rout in the 88th.
“We had a great game tonight, it’s really good for the team’s confidence,” Thauvin told BeIn Sports television.
VALENCIA ROMP TO 3-0 WIN OVER MALAGA
BARCELONA: Valencia striker Paco Alcacer celebrated his first call-up for Spain by scoring the opening goal in a 3-0 win over 10-man Malaga at the Mestalla in La Liga on Friday.
Malaga had the better of the opening stages and Roque Santa Cruz failed to make the most of a series of chances, but the game turned on a red card for Sergi Darder after 26 minutes for a studs-up challenge on Dani Parejo.
Valencia quickly began to dominate and Alcacer flicked home a cross from Jose Luis Gaya at the near post after 30 minutes.
The victory, sealed by further goals from Parejo and Pablo Piatti, gave new coach Nuno Espirito Santo a winning debut at Mestalla after Valencia drew 1-1 at Sevilla in the first round of matches.
Alcacer’s goal capped a memorable day after he was named in the Spain squad for the first time by coach Vicente del Bosque.
“It has been special to be called up and I was like a kid celebrating. Then on top of that it has finished with me scoring a goal,” Alcacer told reporters.
Earlier, a first-half goal from Alvaro Vazquez gave Getafe a 1-0 victory over visiting Almeria.
Published in Dawn, August 31th, 2014
