Borussia Dortmund leave it late to beat Eintracht Frankfurt and go top

Borussia Dortmund needed their bench to turn 58.4% possession and 18 shots into a result. Maximilian Beier scored the only goal in the 80th minute as Dortmund beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 at Signal Iduna Park, with Jobe Bellingham supplying the assist a minute after coming on. The win lifted Dortmund to the top of the Bundesliga, at least until Bayern play on Sunday.

The bench changed Dortmund's night

The decisive moment in Borussia Dortmund vs Eintracht Frankfurt was brutally simple. Bellingham came on in the 79th minute and set up Beier for the winner in the 80th.

That sequence fit the story of the game. Dortmund had enough control for most of the evening, but not enough incision from the start. Niko Kovač told goal.com: "Kovač deserves full credit for this victory. Recognising that his starting attackers were being stifled, he changed the game with his 68th-minute triple substitution. Bringing on Beier, Chukwuemeka and later Bellingham proved a masterstroke."

The quote is a bit self-congratulatory, but the substance holds up. Beier produced the finish that settled it, and Bellingham's first real contribution decided the match straight away. Beier now has 2 Bundesliga goals this season, and this one carried more weight than the number itself because Dortmund had been coming off back-to-back league draws.

Dortmund had the control, Frankfurt had the resistance

This was not a smash-and-grab. Dortmund were the better side over the 90 minutes, and the basic numbers are clear on that: 58.4% possession, 18 shots and a clean sheet.

Frankfurt still made them work for it. Their 48 clearances tell you how much defending they were forced into, and Noah Atubolu's 4 saves kept the game level deep into the second half. At the other end, Gregor Kobel made 3 saves to preserve the clean sheet when Frankfurt had brief chances to steal something.

That balance is why the substitutions mattered so much. Dortmund were already pushing the game in the right direction, but they needed fresher legs and quicker decisions in the final third. Beier gave them that in one touch.

The top spot comes with an asterisk

Dortmund did move top with the win, and that part is fair enough. It is also only provisional because Bayern still had to play later on Sunday.

So the headline for Dortmund is positive without needing to overstate it. They beat Frankfurt 1-0, Beier settled it in the 80th minute, and Bellingham changed the game almost as soon as he stepped on the pitch.