Ramos double drives Dortmund to 3-0 win over Anderlecht
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Substitute Adrian Ramos scored twice as a weakened Borussia Dortmund beat Belgian champions Anderlecht 3-0 on Wednesday to stay top of Champions League Group D.
Dortmund arrived in Brussels missing a number of players through injury, notably Germany midfielder Marco Reus, and with a single point from their last three Bundesliga matches, but made a flying start.
Their opener came after three minutes, when Shinji Kagawa scooped the ball over the top of the home defence for Ciro Immobile to beat advancing keeper Silvio Proto.
Substitute Ramos stabbed in the second in the 69th minute, just four minutes after coming on, after a sublime cross from Lukasz Piszczek.
Ramos made it 3-0 10 minutes later when he danced past helpless Anderlecht defenders to slam just inside the far right post.
Anderlecht did have chances, notably when attacking midfielder Dennis Praet had the ball in the net in the ninth minute, only for Aleksandar Mitrovic, who fed the final pass, to be adjudged offside. Television replays showed he was in line with the last defender.
Mitrovic also struck the Dortmund post in the second half.
The home side, however, struggled to make their possession count against a tight Dortmund defence with the midfield pair of Sebastian Kehl and Sven Bender just in front of them.
Dortmund top group D on six points from two matches, ahead of Arsenal on three.
The defeat took Anderlecht's run without a victory in the Champions League to 10 matches, dating back to November 2012.
(Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Toby Davis)
