On the verve of catching up with last season’s performances in which he pounded 25 goals in the Bundesliga, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s scored a brace to secure a 2-1 victory for Borussia Dortmund in their Bundesliga season opener against Mainz at Signal Iduna Park.
The 27-year-old Gabonese international opened his account for the new season by heading home a superb cross from Andre Schurrle after17 minutes.
Schurrle who was signed from Wolfsburg made the most impressive of the four recent signings who started for the hosts.
Mainz, who finished sixth last season, more than matched Dortmund for long periods of the game and had it not been for a glaring miss from Christian Clemens early in the second half, may well have pulled level before Aubameyang added his second from the penalty spot with a minute left.
There was still time for Yoshinori Muto to convert a powerful close-range header. Ultimately, however, Martin Schmidt’s men failed to improve upon a miserable record of just one win in their previous 12 meetings with last season’s Bundesliga runners-up, who duly preserved an unbeaten home league run dating back to April 2015.
