Borussia Dortmund 3 Hertha Berlin 1: Tuchel maintains perfect start

Thomas Tuchel remains unbeaten as Borussia Dortmund head coach after a 3-1 victory over Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga.

Since replacing Jurgen Klopp, Tuchel had overseen seven victories in all competitions and goals from Mats Hummels, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Adrian Ramos increased that winning run to eight matches on Sunday.

Dortmund withstood some early Hertha pressure at Signal Iduna Park before Hummels broke the deadlock with his first goal at home since March 2014.

A sensational pass from Shinji Kagawa led to Dortmund’s second goal just after the restart, Matthias Ginter rolling the ball into Aubameyang to apply the finish.

Any hopes they had of keeping a clean sheet disappeared after 78 minutes as Roman Burki was beaten for the first time this season by Salomon Kalou.

Neverthless, Dortmund were not to be denied three points and an injury-time strike from Adrian Ramos ensured they top the table on goal difference from Bayern Munich.

Dortmund – who scored seven against Odd in midweek – were uncharacteristically sluggish in the searing heat and were lucky not to fall behind prior to a first-half drinks break.

A lofted pass over the top of the hosts’ defence released Genki Haraguchi in the 15th minute, but Hummels made a superb interception as the Japanese forward was about to pull the trigger.

Although Dortmund were controlling possession, Hertha continued to threaten and Burki – back in for Roman Weidenfeller – was needed to deny Vladimir Darida after 20 minutes.

After motivational words from Tuchel while they took on fluids, Dortmund promptly opened the scoring as Hummels rose at the back post to head home Shinji Kagawa’s deep cross.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan came close to doubling Dortmund’s lead before the break as he cut in from the left. His powerful drive was on target but Thomas Kraft was able to parry it wide.

Three minutes after the break Mkhitaryan went even closer as he attempted to reach a low cross from Marco Reus, but proved unable to convert from close range under pressure from Peter Pekarik.

Tuchel did not have to wait long to see his team’s second goal, though, as a superb lofted pass from Kagawa found Ginter in space on the right. He played a first-time pass to Aubameyang, who prodded the ball home.

Dortmund’s second goal gave them complete control of proceedings and they continued to create chances.

Kagawa blasted wide after a mistake from Kraft, while Reus was also off target before Hertha cut the deficit with 12 minutes to play.

Substitute Kalou finished calmly after a low shot from Alexander Baumjohann had been parried by Burki.

However, Dortmund restored their two-goal advantage in stoppage time as Jonas Hofmann, Kagawa and Mkhitaryan combined to set up Ramos to score against his former club.