Bundesliga: Reus brings up 100 as Dortmund score seven

Borussia Dortmund 7 - 0 Nuremberg
(Bruun Larsen 9', Reus' 32', 58', Hakimi 49', Akanji 74', Sancho 85', Weigl 88')

It's taken a little while, but Lucien Favre's Dortmund finally broke free of the shackles to pummel a shellshocked Nuremberg side at Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday.

A first professional goal from Danish youngster Jacob Bruun Larsen began the rout. Christian Pulisic drove inside and found his fellow 20-year-old with the cutest of flicks. Bruun Larsen had plenty to do but lobbed the keeper from a tight angle to break the deadlock.

Achraf Hakimi and Manuel Akanji's first goals in black and yellow each followed strikes from Marco Reus. The Dortmund skipper's second, a silky sidefoot finish after a smart one-two with Bruun Larsen, was one of the night's best moves and brought up a century of BVB goals for the Germany forward.

Reus was removed soon after but there was still time for another electric cameo from Jadon Sancho. The English youngster found acres of space to finish off a Thomas Delaney through ball before teeing up Julian Weigl for a deflected seventh that ended Nuremberg's misery, for now at least.

The win moves Dortmund up in to a familiar position - second behind Bayern Munich. But the confidence gained in this thrashing may prove more valuable than the boost in goal difference.

As it happened

FULL TIME: A mercy whistle from the referee ends a horror night for Nuremberg. Dortmund played some very nice stuff at times, with Reus, Delaney, Pulisic, Bruun Larsen and Sancho all impressing. 

88' - That guess of 7-0 ten minutes ago is suddenly feeling like it's a bit low. Sancho is again involved. Delaney picks out his run down the left and the Englishman buys himself a yard to roll back to Weigl on the edge of the box. The midfielder sidefoots towards goal, it takes a deflection and hits the net.

88' - GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 7 - 0 Nuremberg (Weigl)

85' - Nurember are absolutely ragged here. Sancho just stands between the full back and center back and Delaney finds him in absolute acres. He brings it down with one touch and steers it home with the second. 

85' - GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 6 - 0 Nuremberg (Sancho)

82' - Pulisic slips in Philipp down the left, then Sancho almost plays in Schmelzer. But not quite this time.

79' - I'm guessing seven here. Kagawa is the latest to have a pop, but he flashes it wide.

74' - Oh dear, Nuremberg not helping themselves this time. Sancho stood one up to Pulisic, whose header was clawed out by the keeper. Akanji recovered possession far too easily in the box and absolutely lashed it home.

74' - GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 5 - 0 Nuremberg (Akanji)

73' - Schmelzer shimmies his weary old legs down the left and is taken out. Meanwhile, Sancho replaces Bruun Larsen - the Dane will remember this one longer than anyone else I'd wager.

70' - Another chance for the visitors, who bring on Ishak for Fuchs.

68' - Two goals and and assist for the Dortmund skipper tonight, as well as a significant milestone.

64' - Another surging run by Pulisic, who has been impressive tonight. But he can't squeeze a cross in.

62' - There's a brief throw to VAR after Zagadou controlled the ball awkwardly in the box. But there's no handball and we continue. With the game won, Dortmund bring on Kagawa and Weigl for Reus and Witsel. Nuremberg bring on Löwen for Bauer.

58' - This is a special goal. Delaney got the ball deep and picked out Reus' run with a beauty of a ball. Reus controlled it and slipped a lovely reverse ball to Philipp, he returned the favor and Reus opened his body to sidefoot home first time. Silky stuff, and the confidence is flowing for the home side.

58' - GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 4 - 0 Nuremberg (Reus)

56' - Reus lifts in a free kick from just outside the box on the left hand side. Zagadou is up highest but can't get power or direction on his header.

53' - Dortmund continue to probe around the edge of the box, a fourth seems fairly likely at this stage.

49' - The ball was cleared from the corner, Nuremberg lost possession and were instantly in big trouble. Reus drove infield but struck his pass slightly behind Hakimi but the on loan Real Madrid man fired it across goal from right to left to score his first Dortmund goal.

49' - GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 3 - 0 Nuremberg (Hakimi)

49' - Dortmund almost shoot themsleves in the foot. Zagadou swings wildly to clear a bouncing cross and shins it over his own bar. 

46' - We're back underway.

HALF TIME: All pretty comfortable for Dortmund. The first goal was a lovely one, with Christian Pulisic's run and flick to Jacob Bruun Larsen the highlight of the game so far. Marco Reus was pretty fortunate with the second, which took a huge deflection. It's difficult to see a way back for the visitors now.

45' - Nuremberg fail to properly clear a corner and it falls to Philipp. He scoots right and hits one but it's headed behind for another corner. BVB keep it alive for a time before Pulisic is flagged offside.

42' - Nuremberg win a free kick on the right. They go short and Fuchs clips it in towards Behrens, but it doesn't quite come off.

38' - A spell of Dortmund possession. That's about all I can tell you about the last five or six minutes.

32' - Slightly fortunate  this one. Reus mis-controls Akanji's ball from the back but Dortmund make the most of it and Philipp flicks it back to a captain. Reus's shot is on target but takes a massive deflection off the ankles of Margreitter and hits the net.

32' - GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 2 - 0 Nuremberg (Reus)

30 - Some nice build up play from Reus and Bruun Larsen gives Schmelzer a bit of room on the left. The defender decides to take a pop from an ambitious angle and it ends in exactly the way you'd expect from a man with two goals in 242 Bundesliga games.

27' - A clearance falls at the feet of Pulisic who rifles towards goal. It's on target but deflect off Margreitter behind for a corner. From that Nuremberg break rapidly and Kubo is briefly in a two on one situation. But he takes far too long to make a decision and the danger is snuffed out. A bit of a warning for Dortmund there, there's still a hint of fragility about them.

24' - The guests win their first corner but Akanji eventually hacks it clear.

22' - Dortmund starting to really dominate the ball now, as the crowd turn the volume back on after the 20 minute silent protest over kick off times.

18' - Reus slides a reverse ball to Hakimi who almost nicks it from the keepers grasp. At the other end, Misidjan rattles off a speculative effort that hits the wrong side of Bürki's net.

12' - Reus has a couple of chances to make it two. The first is a sitter. Nuremberg get themselves into all sorts of bother trying to play it out from the back and Reus is presented with a chance 10 yards out, unchallenged. But he blasts it straight at the keeper. Moments later he zips one over from the edge of the box.

9' - Brilliant work from a pari of 20-year.olds. Pulisic drives inside, there doesn't seem much on but he flicks a wonderful ball in to the path of Bruun Larsen, who lobs over the keeper from a tight angle. That's the Dane's first professional goal. 

9' - GOAL Borussia Dortmund 1 - 0 Nuremberg (Bruun Larsen)

8' - Dortmund knock it side to side, Pulisic tries to inject a bit of urgency but loses the ball. Nuremberg prove equally ineffective in their turn.

6' - Pulisic exchanges passes with Philipp but his shot on the bounce is blocked and the American is punished for a foul. 

4' - Pretty scrappy opening here, with neither team able to hold on to it for long.

1' - Kubo takes out Hakimi and is booked within 30 seconds of the kick off. That's some going considering his side began proceedings.

1' - And we're off! The visitors get us underway at a silent Signal Iduna Park.

 20:26 - It's over now in Düsseldorf, where the hosts scored a late penalty but Leverkusen still won 2-1.

20:20 - Feels like a big night for Dortmund tonight. They need a performance and a result after a few streaky displays and with Leverkusen, who are currently 2-0 up in Düsseldorf, to come on Saturday.

20:15 - Hello, and welcome to the next installment in a heavy Bundesliga schedule. After Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin both slipped up last night, Dortmund will go second with a win that they're heavy favorites to pick up.

But BVB have struggled for fluency since Favre took charge and the Swiss coach mixes things up this evening. Jacob Bruun Larsen and Dan-Axel Zagadou are handed rare starts while Paco Alcacer, Jadon Sancho and Julian Weigl are on the bench. Once again, there's no Mario Götze in Dortmund's matchday squad. 

Nuremberg are unbeaten in their last three games and might fancy their chances of nicking a point. As with all games this week, the stands will be silent for the first 20 minutes in protest at kick off times that fans consider unreasonable. Here are the line ups.