Teenagers Jude Bellingham, Gio Reyna, and Youssoufa Moukoko scored four of Borussia Dortmund’s five goals as they defeated VfB Stuttgart 5-0 to earn their first league victory in four matches and rise to fourth place in the Bundesliga.
It was the first time in Bundesliga history that three separate youngsters scored for the same side, as the hosts bounced back in style after last week’s setback to league leaders Union Berlin.
Dortmund has 19 points, three behind second-place Bayern Munich, who defeated Hoffenheim 2-0 on Saturday, and four behind leaders Union Berlin, who will face VfL Bochum on Sunday.
Dortmund, who will visit Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday with a position in the knockout round at stake, scored after just two minutes via 19-year-old Bellingham and led 3-0 at the break.
“It’s remarkable that Jude, at 19 years old, is playing such consistent football. Gio (Reyna) is also 19, Karim (Adeyemi) is 20, and Youssoufa is 17,” stated Dortmund coach Edin Terzic of Gio (Reyna), Karim (Adeyemi), and Youssoufa.
“Today’s starting lineup was as shown. But we’re not happy with a single victory. We intend to begin a run. We aspire to be filled with confidence.”
“We are aware that we must continue to work hard and refrain from overly praising the team, and we must perform even better on Tuesday,” he stated.
Bellingham scored Dortmund’s first goal of the season after a pass from Niklas Suele. It was his first league goal of the year.
The early opener disrupted Stuttgart’s game plan, as they had won their previous two league and German Cup matches under interim coach Michael Wimmer, and before they could respond Dortmund scored twice.
Defender Suele was given too much space in the area, allowing him to volley in a cross after 13 minutes. Then, US international Reyna, making his first start of the season following a series of ailments, threaded home the game-winning goal in the 44th minute.
After the break, Dortmund continued where they had left off, and in the 53rd minute, midfielder Bellingham scored his second goal of the day with a magnificent shot that beat Florian Mueller.
72 minutes into the match, Moukoko scored his fourth goal of the season off a Raphael Guerreiro assist after another rapid passing combination had split through the Stuttgart defense.
The club said after the game that despite the loss, Stuttgart head coach Wimmer will remain through the end of the year.
Stuttgart are sixteenth with eight points.