Guirassy header and Couto late strike see Dortmund past Werder Bremen 2-0 to seal a 73-point Kovač debut
There was nothing in this game for either side beyond pride, but Borussia Dortmund finished their Bundesliga campaign with the kind of mature, away-day win they have been chasing all season. A Serhou Guirassy header and a stoppage-time Yan Couto strike gave Niko Kovač's side a 2-0 win at the Weserstadion and pushed Dortmund's points tally to 73, their best Bundesliga return in seven years.
Dortmund were sharper from the first whistle. Guirassy had a shot blocked inside the opening four minutes. The visitors should have been ahead at the break and probably would have been but for Bremen goalkeeper Mio Backhaus, who held the line with several saves in the opening half. The young keeper was the single reason it was still 0-0 at the interval.
Guirassy header, opening goal number seven
The breakthrough arrived in the 60th minute through the man whose name has been written into every Dortmund report this season. Julian Ryerson swung in a cross from the right, Guirassy climbed above Marco Friedl, and the Guinea striker headed powerfully into the bottom corner. That was his 17th Bundesliga goal of the season and his seventh league opener of the campaign, a stat that captures how often he has been the spark behind a Dortmund win.
Bremen pressed for an equaliser, and Karim Coulibaly thought he had levelled in the 81st minute, but VAR ruled the goal out for offside, with Jens Stage adjudged to be interfering with play. Once the disallowed goal had taken the air out of the home crowd, the rhythm slid back to Dortmund.
Couto seals it in injury time
With Bremen committing numbers forward, the second goal came on the break. Karim Adeyemi found substitute Couto, and the Brazil-born full-back slotted past Backhaus in the fifth minute of injury time to make it 2-0 and finish the season on a clean sheet.
Dortmund close on 73 points, their highest Bundesliga total since the 2018-19 season. They will finish in the Champions League places and have reset themselves under Kovač, who took over in February 2025 after the team began the calendar year with four straight defeats and Nuri Sahin was sacked.
The bigger questions sit on the desk now. Guirassy's seventeen goals and seven openers have re-anchored the attack. Couto's late goal completes a debut season as a Dortmund player that has won over more sceptics than expected. And on the same day Bayern shattered the all-time Bundesliga scoring record with 122 goals across their title-winning campaign, Dortmund's runners-up finish is a reminder of just how far Kovač still has to take this side to close the real gap.
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