Borussia Dortmund

Revamped Borussia Dortmund continue to impress with their strong start in the season. Thomas Tuchel’s troops defeated Hertha Berlin 3-1 at home and maintained their perfect record of three wins in as many encounters. They lead the Bundesliga standings along with Bayern München. In 5 official encounters, domestic and European, they have a tally of 22 goals scored and 6 conceded. In the Bundesliga, they have scored 11 times and conceded just once.

Last Sunday, Tuchel fielded a 4-4-2 with an attack led by Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. In the first half, Dortmund failed to create much danger due to the visitors’ strong defece. Had they not Mats Hummels and Sokratis Papastathopoulos at the back, they would have fallen behind. Hummels managed to give his team the lead with a fine header connecting Shinji Kagawa’s cross.

Dortmund stepped on the throttle after the interval. In the 51st minute, after an impressive combination, Matthias Ginter teed up Aubameyang, who made it 2-0 on open goal. The black-and-yellows wasted a few more chances, mainly the one of Kagawa who managed to shoot wide with the goal at his mercy in the 72nd minute. Six minutes later, Kalou reduced distances with a close range shot. Henrikh Mkhitaryan also lost a glorious chance in the 83rd minute, but 10 minutes later Borussia sealed their victory with Adrián Ramos who collected the ball from Mkhitaryan’s back-heeled pass to make it 3-1.

Dortmund line-up:

Bürki, Hummels, Papastathopoulos, Schmelzer, Ginter, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan, Gündoğan (79’ Ramos), Weigl, Aubameyang (71’ Hofmann), Reus (79’ Piszczek)

Boosted by Januzaj’s arrival

Borussia Dortmund are staging a comeback to the top of the Bundesliga and strengthened further their attacking line with Adnan Januzaj, signed on a twelve-month loan from Manchester United FC. The Belgian attacking midfielder is an outstanding player who has already proved his talent but was not among Louis van Gaal’s top choices for the current season. On Saturday 29 August, Dortmund also announced they signed Park Joo-Ho from 1.FSV Mainz 05. The South-Korean left-back penned a three-year deal.

On the last day of the summer transfer window, Kevin Großkreutz left for Galatasaray SK, while Jakub Błaszczykowski joined ACF Fiorentina on loan. The Italian club have a buy-out option of 7 million euros. Oliver Kirch also left Dortmund and will continue his career at SC Paderborn 07.

FC Krasnodar

Despite their impressive performances that saw them qualify comfortably to the UEFA Europa League group stage, FC Krasnodar are fluffing their lines in the Russian league. In 7 encounters they have collected just nine points and lack consistency. They just recorded one win in their last five matches. This solitary victory however was over champions FC Zenit Saint-Petersburg (2-0). On the last matchday, PAOK rivals were defeated in Moscow by FC Lokomotiv.

FC Krasnodar took the lead after 11 minutes of play through newly-signed Fyodor Smolov, making the most of the first chance they carved out. They failed to hold on to their lead though. Just seven minutes later, Niasse exposed the shortcomings of Krasnodar’s defence. He slalomed his way around three defenders and, despite his rather weak finish, Andriy Dykan couldn’t get to the ball.

There was one-way traffic from then on, with the Moscow outfit completely dominating proceeding and getting numerous chances for a broader victory. The decider was scored in the 56th minute. Niasse was denied by Dykan, but Kasaev collected the rebound to make it 2-1 with a header.

FC Krasnodar line-up:

Dykan, Kaleshin, Sigurðsson, Granqvist, Petrov, Strandberg, Mamayev, Gazinskiy (61′ Ahmedov), Laborde (46′ Bystrov), Ari (67′ Wánderson), Smolov

With regards to the transfer window, the signing of Charles Kaboré on 25 August was the last one announced by the Russian outfit. Kaboré made a name for himself at the ranks of Olympique de Marseille until 2013. He then travelled to Russia to sign for FC Kuban Krasnodar. After two seasons there, the midfielder from Burkina Faso moved to another part of the city, joining FC Krasnodar on loan.

Qäbälä FC

The Azeri outfit were not in action last weekend, but their transfer activity kept them on the front pages. PAOK’s first opponent in the UEFA Europa League group stage signed Facundo Pereyra, David Meza and Vagif Javadov.

Pereyra first extended his deal with the “Double-Headed Eagle” and then flew to Baku to join his new team for their league encounters and their first ever participation in the Europa League group stage. This was a bold move for the Azeri club, as the Argentinian will add quality and goals to their attack.

Meza is no stranger to Greek audiences, with spellas at Atromitos, Ethnikos Piraeus, PAS Giannina and Messiniakos. His performances for the Messinia outfit in B’ Ethniki attracted the interest of Italian club AC Cesena. He then moved to AC Pavia on loan and in 2013 he signed for Inter Baku PIK. He scored 4 goals in 56 matches before moving to Qäbälä this summer.

As for Javadov, he belongs to Azerbaijan’s elite strikers and has already 58 caps and 9 goals for the national team. After a disappointing spell in Turkey, he returns to his homeland searching to revive his career.