Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Elversberg: Nmecha scores twice to maintain unbeaten start

Borussia Dortmund ensured they kept pace with Bayern Munich at the Bundesliga summit as Felix Nmecha found the back of the net twice in Saturday's 2-1 win over Elversberg. 

Nmecha notched his brace in the space of 16 second-half minutes at Signal Iduna Park, and despite Noel Futkeu's 81st-minute stunner, Dortmund held on for all three points. 

BVB remain level with Bayern in the standings on 21 points, with the defending Bundesliga champions also coming away with a 2-1 win away to Mainz. 

Lukas Petkov forced Gregor Kobel into action in the sixth minute before Fabio Silva's speculative first-time effort from distance almost caught out Nicolas Kristof at the other end. 

Dortmund's dominance continued, and they came close to taking the lead on the half-hour mark, but after Kristof did well to thwart Nmecha's prodded shot from close range, Silva somehow headed the rebound wide of the left post. 

Elversberg ended the first half in the ascendency, with Francis Onyeka's fizzing drive whistling past Kobel's net, and Petkov's drilled attempt in stoppage time grabbed at the second attempt by the Dortmund goalkeeper. 

Jobe Bellingham, fresh from earning his first call-up to the England squad, volleyed wide within 45 seconds of the restart before Silva fired straight at Kristof from a tight angle. 

Konstantinos Karetsas then stung the palms of the Elversberg goalkeeper, but Dortmund's pressure eventually told in the 55th minute when Silva's ball to the edge of the area was collected by Nmecha, who took a touch before picking out the bottom-left corner. 

Petkov was once again denied by Kobel as his swerving free-kick was pushed to safety, but Kovac's team doubled their advantage 19 minutes from time through Nmecha, with his curling shot from 25 yards out beating Kristof for pace and power.

However, the visitors threatened a nervy finish when Futkeu acrobatically turned Florian Le Joncour's header into the net, but it proved to be too little, too late for Elversberg. 

Silva stakes his claim in Guirassy's absence

Ahead of kick-off, BVB were dealt a blow with Serhou Guirassy, their top scorer in all competitions with eight this season, ruled out of facing Elversberg after sustaining a thigh injury during their victory over Real Betis in the Champions League. 

However, they did not need to worry. Silva has often made an impact off the bench, recording 10 of his previous 12 direct goal involvements in the Bundesliga as a substitute, but he marked a rare start by setting up Nmecha for the game's opening goal.

But the day belonged to Nmecha, who netted a brace for the fourth time in the Bundesliga – three of those for Dortmund. Since detailed data collection began, he is also only the third BVB player to score twice from outside the box in a Bundesliga match (after Youssoufa Moukoko in 2022 and Alexander Frei in 2007).

Dortmund have now started a Bundesliga season with nine unbeaten games for only the fourth time, after 2002-03, 2018-19 and 2023-24, while their 21 points at this stage can only be bettered by the 22 they managed in 2013-14 under Jurgen Klopp.

Kovac's side were, however, pushed all the way by Elversberg, who finished the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.25 from their 16 shots, compared to Dortmund's total of 1.53 from their 19 attempts.