dortmund up and running with marseille scalp published: tuesday 1 october 2013, 22.57cet
borussia dortmund 3-0 olympique de marseille
robert lewandowski and marco reus got last year's finalists up and running at the second time of asking, to leave élie baup's men pointless.
by andy james from bvb stadion dortmund
borussia dortmund kick-started their tilt at a second straight uefa champions league final with a convincing 3-0 victory over olympique de marseille in group f.
the bundesliga leaders brought their impressive domestic form back to the european stage with a dominant showing and deservedly went in front when robert lewandowski capped a trademark breakaway with a simple finish. when marco reus's free-kick caught out marseille keeper steve mandanda to make it two early in the second half there was no way back for last season's ligue 1 runners-up, who conceded again late on as lewandowski added a third from the spot.
shorn of their effervescent coach jürgen klopp on the touchline, last season's beaten finalists were certainly not lacking vibrancy out on the pitch as they sought to make amends for their matchday one defeat at ssc napoli. reus twice caught the om defence napping early on, blasting one loose ball over and seeing another left-footed effort pushed away by mandanda.
subsequently, it came as little surprise to see reus at the heart of dortmund's opener on 19 minutes. the lively winger combined superbly with henrikh mkhitaryan as the schwarzgelben scythed through the visitors' midfield. mkhitaryan looked to have overcooked the final ball, but competition debutant eric durm collected on the left and rolled unselfishly across for lewandowski to tap home.
marseille almost hit back straight away, but mitchell langerak, between the posts for bvb in the absence of suspended captain roman weidenfeller, got down well to turn mathieu valbuena's free-kick around the upright. still, it was the hosts who should have added to the scoreline moments later as kevin grosskreutz picked out lewandowski free in the box, only for mandanda to save brilliantly with his leg to deny the polish international from point-blank range.
save for a dimitri payet shot, which langerak comfortably held, dortmund remained in the ascendancy either side of the interval and there was no begrudging them a rather fortuitous second goal seven minutes after the restart as mandanda, partially unsighted, fumbled reus's searching free-kick into the net.
the french custodian went some way to redeeming himself with an expert save to keep out durm's finish as the youngster ran clean through approaching the hour, but the damage had already been done. dortmund dominated the latter stages, wrapping up the three points ten minutes from time as the excellent reus was felled by nicolas n'koulou in the box, allowing lewandowski to convert his second from the spot.
