Mainz 05 0-2 Borussia Dortmund: Brandt stars to help keep pressure on Bayern

Borussia Dortmund maintained their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga campaign as they defeated 10-man Mainz 05 2-0 away from home.

Julian Brandt was the star of a clinical first-half display, with the midfielder assisting both Daniel Svensson and Karim Adeyemi to help Dortmund keep the pressure on Bayern Munich at the top of the league.

The visitors made a breakthrough at MEWA Arena after 27 minutes as Svensson slotted the ball past Robin Zentner to finish off a free-flowing counter-attack from Nico Kovac's side.

It was another swift breakaway before half-time that saw Dortmund double their advantage. Adeyemi used his electrifying pace to get the edge of the box and played a give-and-go with Brandt before finding the bottom-left corner.

Mainz went close to pulling a goal back on the hour mark, but Maxim Leitsch's header from a corner was thwarted in impressive fashion by Gregor Kobel in the Dortmund goal.

Any hope of a comeback seemed to fade away seven minutes later as Zentner was shown a straight red card for fouling Adeyemi outside the box and denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

Data Debrief: Dortmund fastest out of the blocks again

Dortmund's efficient finishing on the road made the difference. They accumulated 1.47 expected goals (xG) from four shots on target compared to Mainz's 0.31 from two attempts on goal.

Dortmund were also in the lead at half-time for the 10th Bundesliga match in a row, setting a new Bundesliga record for a side. 

Kovac's men have kept a clean sheet in each of their last four games in the Bundesliga. Their last longer run of games without conceding a goal in the competition was a streak of five matches from August to September 2017.