Dortmund Thrash Atlético Madrid; Top Group A

Signal Iduna Park was buzzing before the match with Atlético Madrid, and really buzzing after it.

In between, it was Los Rojiblancos who got buzzed. More accurately, buzzsawed.

It's early days in the Champions League, too, but this was a battle for sole possession of first place and a guarantee of at least a spot in the Europa League's Round of 32.

The question of course, was whether BVB Dortmund could keep up the spiffy sorta form they've shown in the Bundesliga.

 

Dudes are the league leaders right now, and gained that status in Group A when they inflicted a humiliating 4-0 crush job against Diego Simeone’s side.

It was Atlético's worst defeat in seven years.

When the match began, it didn't seem the result would be so disparate. The Spanish side were true to their traditional form under Simeone, ie- defending and waiting for die Borussen's mistake so they could launch a lethal counter-attack.

 

Correct.

Dortmund gave a hint of things to come when they threatened Jan Oblak through Marco Reus and football's favorite American, Christian Pulisic.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 38th minute when Achraf Hakimi got inside the area and delivered a backpass to Axel Witsel. The Belgian fired a low effort from the edge of the box that caromed off an Atleti defender and ended up on the back of the net:

 

The real fireworks started popping after the break.

Atleti looked better, trying to do their part, but dudes were still ineffective. Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa were having a terrible night facing Dortmund’s defense. By throwing everything into seeking the equalizer, they gave 'way too much space to Dortmund. And that led to a disaster.

 

In the 73rd, Hakimi set up Raphael Guerrëiro with a cross from the left-wing.

The Portuguese fired home from the penalty spot, with zero chance for Oblak to do anything about it:

 

The floodgates were open after that.

In the 83rd, Mario Götze picked up Hakimi. The Moroccan drove inside the box and got up close and personal with Oblak. Dude could've scored, but he unselfishly assisted another young blood -- Englishman Jadon Sancho -- who merely needed to tap into the empty net:

 

Der BVB were clearly in emphatic mode.

 

And there was still time for one more.

In the game's Bizarro moment, Filipe LuÍs tried to pass back to Oblak and ended up hitting a wide open Guerreiro, who happened to be in front of the 'keeper.

Think of it as cake in Aisle 89:

 

Dortmund is now coasting in Group A's driver's seat, with that bold x confirming that no matter what from here on out, they're in a bracket.

Even if its the Euro League's.

The way they're playing right now, though, that fallback's not bloody likely.