Borussia Dortmund's U19s have maintained their perfect record in the Bundesliga. Led by an outstanding Paris Brunner, who bagged a hat-trick, the BVB youngsters defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 (3-0) at the youth stadium in Dortmund-Brackel.

The win for BVB restores the Black and Yellows' three-point lead over Bayer Leverkusen after they had temporarily drawn level on points with BVB the day before with a 2-1 victory in Paderborn.

Coach Mike Tullberg made three changes to the starting eleven from the 1-0 Youth League success in Paris five days earlier, William Rashidi, Charles Herrmann and Julien Duranville replacing Hendry Blank, Samuel Bamba and Cole Campbell. For Duranville, who has been playing for the first team, it was a first appearance of the season for the U23s as he looked to get some match practice by playing one half of the game.

The Black and Yellows got off to a dream start in Brackel and took the lead in the opening stages. Captain Filippo Mane found Kjell Wätjen in behind. The Dortmund man was brought down in the penalty area by Joshua Uwakhonye, who saw a yellow card for the offence. Paris Brunner confidently converted the spot-kick to give his side the lead in the 13th minute.

It was Mane once again who started the move that would lead to BVB's second, finding Duranville in the centre circle, who played it straight to Brunner. The BVB striker sprinted unchallenged into the penalty area, beat one defender with a body feint and fired a flat shot into the far corner to make it 2-0 on 24 minutes.

Wätjen and Rafael Lubach started the move for the third goal of the afternoon. Lubach found Brunner, who left two opponents standing on the edge of the box and once again found the far corner for 3-0 with just half an hour on the referee's watch.

At the beginning of the second half, Cole Campbell, who had been brought on for Duranville, had the chance to make it 4-0, but his shot from the six yard box was cleared off the line by a Mönchengladbach defender on 49 minutes. 

The guests were down to ten men a little later, after Uwakhonye fouled Rafael Lubach in midfield and saw a second yellow and subsequent red card in the 54th minute. Despite being a man up, the BVB youngsters no longer looked as dominant as they had in the first half. Nevertheless, they brought the victory over the line safely.

After a sixth victory in six games, the BVB U19s remain top of the Bundesliga West table. Brunner's hat-trick took him to the top of the goalscoring charts with nine league goals so far this season.

U19s coach Mike Tullberg: "We controlled the game in the first half and defended well. We didn't allow them any chances, but we lacked a little bit of courage in possession. Then the chances did come from our control of the game. It felt like we scored three goals out of two chances. I am not satisfied with the second half. Despite having the extra man, we gave the opposition the ball, and I didn't like our body language any more. The second half was not good enough for us. Nevertheless, it was, of course, a successful week for us."

U19s: Lisewski – Rashidi (Meiser, 76), Mane, Garcia Posadas, Korzynietz – Lubach, Wätjen (Krevsun, 58) – Herrmann (Onofrietti, 58), Rijkhoff (König, 72), Duranville (Campbell, 46) - Brunner.

Goals: 1-0 Brunner (penalty, 13), 2-0 Brunner (24), 3-0 Brunner (30)

Daniel Mertens