Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus scored three unanswered goals between them as Borussia Dortmund left Tottenham Hotspur with a mountain to climb if they are to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
A much-changed Spurs side, which did not include the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli, took to the Westfalenstadion pitch against a home side that had not been beaten in 2016 and they were duly well beaten.
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It was one-way traffic during the opening 45 minutes aside from the first 60 seconds when Christian Eriksen drove a shot from the edge of the box straight at veteran Roman Weidenfeller in the Dortmund goal.
Following that, the hosts dominated proceedings and after Erik Durm and Aubameyang had failed to hit the target, Hugo Lloris's net was breached in the 14th minute.
The Spurs keeper and captain could only parry Henrikh Mkhitaryan's powerful strike from distance and Aubameyang was on hand to turn in the rebound. However, the African Footballer of the Year's celebrations were cut short by the linesman, who correctly ruled that the striker was in an offside position when his teammate had gone for goal.
Aubameyang was not to be denied, though, and in the 30th minute he had his goal. Marcel Schmelzer curled in a cross from the left flank and Dortmund's No.17 got up above Ben Davies to plant a header into the bottom corner of Lloris's net.
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Dortmund's control extended into the second half, during which it took them six minutes to carve out another opening. Mkhitaryan's slide-rule pass released Aubameyang, yet on this occasion the Gabonese dinked his effort wide of the target. Gonzalo Castro pounced on the loose ball, but from a narrow angle he fired against the post.
However, there were no such problems for Reus just after the hour mark as he doubled his team's advantage. Substitute Nevan Subotic had only been on the pitch three minutes when he flicked the ball to the back post, where the World Cup winner lashed in a volley from two yards out.
The 26-year-old was then on target again with 20 minutes remaining as the Dortmund juggernaut showed no signs of letting up. This time the ball was swept into his path by Castro and Reus fired a rising half-volley beyond the reach of Lloris.
It proved to be the final goal of the evening and leaves Spurs needing to win a by a four-goal margin during next week's second leg at White Hart Lane to extend their interest in the competition.
Liam Apicella
