Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Schalke player ratings: Brandt plays a blinder

Mats Hummels – 7/10

Mats Hummels put in another good shift, which is to be expected of him given his experience in the Revier derby. He had a few positive involvements when it came to set pieces and corners but other than that, the Dortmund defence was relatively untested, which can only be a good thing of course.

Lukasz Piszczek – 7/10

Again, Lukasz Piszczek had a solid performance although he was untested. In all honesty, I feel like the Dortmund defenders, particularly those more experienced, will feel a little disappointed that there wasn’t an ounce of competition from their local rivals. Still, Piszczek did what he needed to do when he needed to do it.

Manuel Akanji – 7.5/10

Manuel Akanji certainly didn’t look out of place in the back-three, nor did he do anything to jeopardise Dortmund’s excellent defensive display. The 24-year-old has become a regular for Dortmund this season and since this was my first time watching him, I was eager to see how he plays.

And I can definitely see why Dortmund deploy him. He was excellent at cutting out the limited counter-attacks that Schalke had and he’s also a fine passer of the ball which helps Favre when trying to play out from the back. A fine performance from the Swiss international.