Borussia Dortmund maintained its nine-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga following a 2-1 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday, and not even the 83rd minute introduction of Josh Sargent could disrupt BVB’s continued run of excellence.
That excellence has been highlighted by the play of Paco Alcacer, who scored Dortmund’s opener in the 19th minute after this extremely well-worked set piece (also, VAR is a great thing).
Raphael Guerreiro and Marco Reus stood over the ball, and Guerreiro ran over it once before sneakily returning and delivering with his left foot.
Werder’s defensive line was left completely flatfooted, and Alcacer made no mistake with a thumping header. The Spanish striker has been a revelation since arriving on loan from Barcelona back on Aug. 28.
Have some insane stats:
Only Emiliano Sala and Kylian Mbappé (12) have scored more goals in Europe’s top five leagues than Paco Alcácer (11) this season.
He’s started four games. pic.twitter.com/k8Ka2qFBbC— Squawka Football (@Squawka) December 15, 2018
Paco Alcácer has scored with 11 of the last 12 shots on target in the Bundesliga this season.
Supremely clinical. pic.twitter.com/E8FIutegUi— Squawka Football (@Squawka) December 15, 2018
Paco Alcacer league goals for Barcelona in 37 games: 10 @paco93alcacer league goals for Borussia Dortmund in 10 games: 11 pic.twitter.com/rHwTLeiWI5
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 15, 2018
Dortmund has also greatly benefited from a healthy Reus, who scored the second. The German attacker was just named the Bundesliga’s player of the month for November and now has 10 goals and five assists in 15 league games.