BVB news: comeback win at Hoffenheim, Kovac record, Mane injured
News summary
Serhou Guirassy chipped Oliver Baumann just after the hour to start a rescue job at Hoffenheim that nobody in the away end had seen coming. Five minutes later he slid Fabio Silva in for 2-2.
Hoffenheim had led twice. Leon Avdullahu struck just before the break and Tim Lemperle added a second nine minutes into the second half.
Ethan Nwaneri finished the comeback off with a cutback that Hoffenheim defender Albian Hajdari turned into his own net. He had trained twice.
The own goal was the bit Kovac kept coming back to afterwards: it was a lucky win.
Kovac's 50th Bundesliga match in charge left him on 107 points and past a club record Lucien Favre had held.
Thomas Tuchel sat just behind Favre on that list.
Every one of his five substitutes changed the game for him, by Kovac's own reckoning at the press conference.
Joey Veerman came on at half-time as one of the five.
"Wherever Dortmund plays, things never get boring," managing director Lars Ricken said in his verdict on the comeback. He singled out Waldemar Anton and Nwaneri.
"I'm looking forward to Nwaneri in the Bundesliga and am convinced that he will be an excellent signing," Dietmar Hamann said in his verdict on the debut.
Filippo Mane had already limped out of the game after half an hour with a muscle injury. He is out for several weeks.
That leaves Kovac thin at the back.
Two wins from two puts Die Schwarzgelben on six points, a goal behind Freiburg at the top. Bayern Munich drew a blank at home and sit two points further back.
Transfer repurcussions
Fabio Silva wanted out this summer. Nothing came of it, and a change of mindset has turned him from problem child into matchwinner.
Konstantinos Karetsas cost €30m.
Only one signing in the club's history has been more expensive.
Dortmund spent 108.5 million euros across the summer window on seven players, the fifth-biggest outlay in club history.
Europe's transfer window shut on the 1st September, so Kovac has no market fix for Mane's absence until January.
Next up
Home to Villarreal on Tuesday night. Tickets remain on general sale for Dortmund's first Champions League home game of the season.
Bastian Schweinsteiger drew Werder Bremen out against Dortmund at the German Football Museum on Saturday. That tie falls in late October.
BVB Buzz opinion
One supporter called the display a footballing poverty certificate; another had six Dortmund players down as man of the match. They watched the same 90 minutes.
Serhou Guirassy is the one man nobody argues about. He shares the Bundesliga lead for goal involvements this season.
Kovac will take the three points and knows that the first hour in Sinsheim was a warning. Better opponents will not be so generous.
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