Three takeaways from Borussia Dortmund's imperative 3-1 win over Mainz 05 | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund returned from the international break in the best of fashion possible, with a 3-1 home win over Mainz 05. The Black-and-Yellows finally made the Yellow Wall smile again, following two straight league losses to Augsburg and RB Leipzig. As for Niko Kovač, the Croat finally had a league win against a top-six side, which maintains the hopes for Europe next season (remotely) alive.

Besides the win, the team as a whole performed at a good level, keeping consistency in all the areas on the pitch. It all started when Maxi Beier had a lucky flick from a Brandt pass, which ended up fooling Mainz's defenders and provided Adeyemi with an easy assist to serve Beier. From that point on, it was a Nico Schlotterbeck show, who took the new role as a corner taker to assist twice to Emre Can and Beier, respectively.

Even though Dortmund displayed some terrible defending on Mainz's only goal of the match, it wasn't enough to ruin a perfect return to club football for BVB at the Westfalenstadion. The Black-and-Yellows will now travel to the Black Forest to face Freiburg in a direct matchup for European qualification. Here are three takeaways from Dortmund's relieving win against Mainz 05: