Two goals in the opening five minutes from the Borussia Dortmund side helped them to achieve a 4-2 victory over Zenit St. Petersburg and put them in a firm position to advance through to the quarter-finals. Henrikh Mkitaryan opened the scoring, with Marco Reus adding a second just over a minute later. In the second half, a flurry of goals saw Oleg Shatov pull one back for the home side before Lewandowski got his first. Hulk put Zenit back into the game again from the penalty spot only to see Lewandowski strike again moments later to restore Dortmund's two-goal cushion. Dortmund started the game in the perfect fashion when Marco Reus surged through on goal and shrugged off the challenges of the defenders, eventually falling to ground in the box but managing to play the ball off to Henrikh Mkhitaryan who dispatched the ball into the net. It didn't take the visitors long to strike again, 77 seconds to be exact. Mkhitaryan crossed the ball to Kevin Grosskreutz who laid it off to Reus to double Dortmund's advantage and seal another crucial away goal. Zenit couldn't find a way into the match at all, with their only chance in the opening half hour being a tame effort from Hulk that was easily gathered by Roman Weidenfeller. At half-time Dortmund were cruising, while Zenit were appalling. Nothing could prepare us for what was about to happen in the next 45 minutes. Things didn't change in the early stages of the second period as Dortmund almost grabbed a third, Robert Lewandowski forcing a superb save from Yuri Lodygin. Then, shortly after, things improved for the Russians. Zenit carved out an opening and Hulk chipped Weidenfeller but saw his effort headed away by Marcel Schmelzer. Jose Rondon smashed the ball against the post before Oleg Shatov finally put the ball into the net. Four minutes later at the other end Dortmund restored their two goal advantage. Lewandowski combined with Lukasz Piszczek before striker his shot through the legs of the keeper, who had no chance. The drama wasn't over yet, seven minutes later we had another goal. Viktor Fayzulin was fouled by Piszczek and the referee pointed to the spot, where Hulk smashed home the penalty. They say you're most vulnerable when you've just scored but clearly that message wasn't drilled into Zenit. Straight away Lewandowski struck again. Reus played the deadly Pole through on goal and he made no mistake with his finish, securing his brace and silencing the Russian fans yet again. That was the end of the drama though as it stayed 4-2 in Dortmund's favour, giving them a great position as they head into the second-leg in Germany in a few weeks. Zenit, meanwhile, are lucky to still be in the competition at this stage and shot themselves in the foot numerous times during the 90 minutes.
Josh has had work featured in the Evening Gazette and on Newcastle United website. He is a Multimedia Journalism student at Teesside University and runs a successful sports blog. He also enjoys films, comics and TV, writing about anything he can. Josh has recently started writing his first of what he hopes will be many books.
