Westfalia Rhynern vs Borussia Dortmund

VIACTIV-ARENA im Papenloh plays host to Borussia Dortmund’s opening summer friendly as they meet lower-league outfit Westfalia Rhynern.

Westfalia Rhynern capped off an indifferent 2022/23 Oberliga Westfalen season with an emphatic 5-0 win away to Ennepetal, ending an embarrassing run of back-to-back defeats by an aggregate score of 10-3. Since a 1-1 draw against Finnentrop/Bamenohl in mid-April, none of Westfalia’s last six matches have ended level (W3, L3), emphasizing their problems with inconsistent performances. But a high-scoring theme was a common denominator during that stretch, with five of those six games containing over 2.5 goals at an average of five per match. Given a substantial gulf in class, Bjorn Mehnert’s men are likely to end up on the receiving end of another eye-watering scoreline in their first-ever showdown against a far more heavily fancied Borussia Dortmund.

However, the more esteemed visitors won’t take the field in high spirits after missing out on a glorious opportunity to arrest Bayern Munich’s decade-long reign in the Bundesliga. Despite canceling out a 2-0 halftime deficit in a nail-biting 2-2 home draw against Mainz 05 on the final day of the 2022/23 Bundesliga campaign, ‘Die Borussen’ finished a whisker off perennial champions Bayern. All Edin Terzic’s side had to do was to maintain an eye-catching 11-game winning home streak to wrap up their first league title since 2012, yet they shot themselves in the foot. Dortmund must show mental fortitude after another trophyless season and the departure of marquee midfielder Jude Bellingham to prepare themselves for another attempt to dethrone Bayern. As odds-on favorites to kickstart their pre-season tour on the front foot, they’re most likely to net multiple goals for a fifth game on the bounce.