Gio Reyna: 'We are going in the right direction'

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jan 26, 2023

It looks like coming off the bench just might suit Gio Reyna.

At least for Borussia Dortmund.

For the second time in four days, the 20-year-old American was a second-half substitute and delivered the winning goal.

He scored the winner on Wednesday night when he got his foot on fellow substitute Sebastien Haller's header off a free kick and scored to give Dortmund a 2-1 win at Mainz.

The goal wasn't as pretty as his golazo in Sunday's 4-3 win over Augsburg, but it was more dramatic, coming in the third minute of injury time and giving Dortmund the three points that pushed it into a three-way tie for fourth place on points with Eintracht Frankfurt and Freiburg.

Just five points separate the top six teams in what is shaping as a rare season in which Bayern Munich (winner of the last 10 Bundesliga championships) is not running away with the race.



Reyna has scored four Bundesliga goals this season—all in his last seven games—to match his career high in 2020-21.

“When I came in," he said afterwards, "I wanted to make a difference. It wasn't always pretty to look at. We haven't played well away from home lately. But we gave everything until the end. We made some important changes, worked hard and now we are going in the right direction.”

Photo: Hasan Bratic/dpa via ZUMA Press/ISI Photos