Dortmund wanted to return from the winter break with a clean slate but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s exclusion ruined that
A new year, a new Borussia Dortmund. That was the plan after a fractious, difficult and sometimes traumatic 2017, which took in the stress of parting company with two head coaches and – more seriously – the horror of the attack on the team bus in April before the Champions League quarter-final with Monaco. Following the exit of the influential head scout Sven Mislintat to Arsenal, still affected by being marginalised under former coach number one Thomas Tuchel, the failure of former coach number two, Peter Bosz, is still being unpicked by his replacement Peter Stöger.
Looking at the team sheet for Sunday’s resumption of their Bundesliga campaign at home to Wolfsburg, the freshness of a new start felt tangible, with teenagers Alexander Isak and Jadon Sancho – with the latter first Englishman to play for Dortmund – included in the XI for the first time in the league. The young pair made their respective presences felt, each coming close to breaking a frustrating goalless deadlock by hitting the woodwork.
Related: Arsenal confident of signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after Dortmund talks
Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig 3-1 Schalke, Werder Bremen 1-1 Hoffenheim, Stuttgart 1-0 Hertha Berlin, Hannover 3-2 Mainz, Augsburg 1-0 Hamburg, Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Freiburg, Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Wolfsburg, Cologne 2-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
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