The smile can return to Juergen Klopp's face.
After three months of Bundesliga misery, his Borussia Dortmund side had some key defenders back from injury and the manager juggled some other pieces, all of the maneuvers helping to produce a vital Friday night 1-0 victory over TSG Hoffenheim that lifted one of Europe's top clubs off the bottom of the German league.
Ilkay Guendogan, making his presence felt after a long injury absence, scored the goal which decided the contest as Dortmund moved out of the relegation zone to 14th place at the start of the weekend round of fixtures.
It was a third straight win at sold out Signal-Iduna Park (80,667), including a UEFA Champions League victory over Galatasaray, and may be the tonic that BvB needs to right the ship before the Bundesliga winter break begins on Dec. 21. That's because the final margin belied the attacking edge Dortmund maintained against their seventh-placed opponents.
Klopp got a much-needed boost when he was able to start Luksaz Pisczcek, Matts Hummels, Neven Subotic and Marcel Schmelzer as his back four for the first time in 72 matches, a reminder of much the injury curse has bedeviled the team since they played together in that Champions League final loss to Bayern Munich in London. Only the occasional blip marred a solid performace from the quartet as Hoffenheim found little to work with over the 90 minutes.
Klopp also fiddled with his starting eleven, giving Australian goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak the start, relegating Germany's No. 2, Roman Weidenfeller, to a spot on the substitute's bench, and preferring Colombian Adrian Ramos as the lone striker supported by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Guendogan and Henrykh Mkhitaryan. Langerak was not busy while Ramos justified his place with a strong performance up front, winning balls in the air and keeping possession to help set up attacking runs for others.
Dortmund is still missing midfielders Jakub BÅaszczykowski and Marcos Reus; Blaszczykowski could be back before the winter break as he rehabs from an ACL injury while Reus (ankle) is definitely out until 2015. Shinji Kagawa, yet to recover his best form after returning from his stay at Manchester United, was overlooked for a midfield place Friday night but is another option going forward.
For a night at least, BVB looked like the Borussia Dortmund which has played so well at home and in Europe during Klopp's tenure. Guendogan got Dortmund off on the right foot in the 17th minute when he dove at the far post to head home an inch-perfect cross from Aubameyang, who had made his run wide on the right. That it was the only goal of the match is misleading.
Dortmund thought they had earned number two when Aubameyang's header to Hummels' header-on from a corner found the bottom of the net in the 51st minute, but the assistant flagged for offside. Replays suggested that Roberto Firmino might have been keeping Aubameyang onside, however, Klopp having a quiet word with the fourth official after the goal was denied.
Oliver Baumann then denied Aubameyang on the hour, blocking a drive from the left when the striker might have done better to attempt to chip the keeper rather than beating him with power. Baumann also turned a Hummels header over the bar as the Dortmund attack grew in stature. Aubameyang again beat Baumann in the 72nd minute when he turned and shot from 16 yards but this time the offside flag was correctly raised up.
The pressure continued but so did Baumann's saves and a fine lot of work from teenager Niklas Suele at the Hoffenheim back which prevented Dortmund from adding to their account.
The visitors came close in the second minute of the second half, Hummels heading a Sebastian Rudy free kick past the post with Langerak apparently beaten on the play and was furious with five minutes left, but replays suggested that Subotic timed it correctly to beat Tarik Elyounoussi on the right of the box rather than conceding what would have been a most unfortunate penalty.
The truth was that only one of the two sides did enough attacking Friday night to deserve the points.
