Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Mainz: Report, Ratings & Reaction as Jadon Sancho Double Secures Victory

Borussia Dortmund put their heavy defeat to title rivals behind them as they ran out 2-1 winners against Mainz at the Signal Iduna Park on Saturday evening.

Two first half goals from Jadon Sancho were enough to see off the visitors, with Mainz rarely troubling Roman Burki in the Dortmund goal in the first period. In the second half, the visitors had a number of good chances and drew some good saves from Burki, before scoring from a corner in the 84th minute, resulting in a tense finish. 

Dortmund hung on for the three points despite a nervy final five minutes when there was a goalmouth scramble, with Mainz failing to force the ball home and the visiting side laying siege to the Dortmund goal. 

​Here's 90min's breakdown of the game.

Borussia Dortmund

Key Talking Point

Yet another good performance from Jadon Sancho will have reignited the debate about whether young English talent should look to go abroad in order to further their careers.

It is clear that Sancho has benefited from playing with Dortmund's talented squad week in, week out, and he there is not doubt that he has listened to his manager Lucien Favre and worked on certain areas of his game. 

It would not be surprising to see a rise in the number of young British players moving abroad to play their football in the next few seasons, and ultimately, this should be seen as a good thing. Playing in top leagues in other countries provides these players with plenty of experience, and will benefit their respective national teams when it comes to qualifying for major tournaments and playing at the tournaments themselves. 

Player Ratings

Starting XI: Burki (7); Wolf (6), Weigl (7), Akanji (6), Diallo (6); Witsel (7), Delaney (7); Sancho (8)*, Reus (7), Larsen (6); Gotze (7)

Substitutions: Philipp (6), Zagadou (6), Toprak (5)

Star Man

Young Englishman Jadon Sancho put in another strong performance for Dortmund, further strengthening his reputation and probably turning yet more heads towards the Signal Iduna Park.

Sancho's two first half goals were great examples of perfect positioning and awareness. 

He arrived into the Mainz box at the right moment to allow teammate Mario Gotze to put in an inviting cross for Sancho to divert past Mainz keeper Florian Muller and into the net, whilst being in the right place for Thomas Delaney's cut back from the byline to once again find the net. 

With performances like this becoming more common, Sancho will command a huge price tag in the summer, with his displays not being missed back in England, and more importantly by national team boss Gareth Southgate. 

Mainz

Player Ratings

Starting XI: Muller (5); Donati (5), Hack (6), Niakhate (5), Martin (5); Gbamin (6), Kunde (5), Latza (6); Boetius (6); Mateta (5), Onisiwo (6).

Substitutions: Baku (6), Quaison (6), Ujah (5).

Looking Ahead

​Dortmund travel to Freiburg in their next ​Bundesliga match. All is not lost in the hunt for the league title, and Dortmund need to keep winning games to have a chance of wrestling the championship from away from the clutches of rivals ​Bayern Munich.