DORTMUND: Borussia Dortm­und’s Karim Adeyemi scored twice and set up another goal as the Ruhr valley club earned a 4-2 victory over visitors Heidenheim on Friday, to make it two wins from three Bundesliga matches and go provisionally top of the table.

Dortmund, who had new signing Serhou Guirassy in the line-up for the first time with the Guinea international having recovered from injury, now are on seven points, one more than Heidenheim.

“I took a lot of confidence with me from the U21s,” Adeyemi told DAZN. “The coach trusted me and I wanted to show him I was there. I’m happy and we got the three points — let’s keep it going.”

Adeyemi first set up Donyell Malen for the lead in the 12th minute before doubling it with his first goal after completing a textbook break five minutes later.

Heidenheim briefly cut the deficit with Marvin Pieringer’s powerful header in the 39th but Dortmund restored their two-goal cushion before the break with Adeyemi’s low drive two minutes later.

Guirassy, last season’s VfB Stuttgart leading scorer with 28 league goals, had a hand in Adeyemi’s second goal, faking a move with a clever dummy and allowing the ball to reach the Germany forward.

He also missed a golden chance to get onto the scorsheet himself in the 67th, sending his point-blank volley onto the Heidenheim keeper before being taken off five minutes later.

The visitors scored against the run of play with a 74th minute penalty by Maxi­milian Breunig, giving Dortm­und bad memories of the same fixture last year when they let a 2-0 lead slide to draw 2-2. But Dortmund earned a spot kick themselves in stoppage time with Emre Can making it 4-2.

Dortmund captain Can told DAZN when Heidenheim scored late “it got a bit tight and you start thinking about what happened last year,” but said “we kept in control and deserved to win.”

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2024