Dortmund beat St Pauli 2-1 ahead of trip to Real Madrid

Borussia Dortmund returned to winning ways in the Bundesliga with a hard-fought 2-1 over St Pauli Hamburg on Friday.

Serhou Guirassy headed the winner in the 83rd minute at the far right post as Dortmund rebounded from a 2-1 defeat at Union Berlin in their previous match before the international break.

Ramy Bensebaini gave the hosts a 43rd minute lead with a looping header. St Pauli grabbed a temporary equalizer from Eric Smith's long range drive into the top left corner in the 78th.

Dortmund had more possession and several more chances, most notably from a Julian Brandt header on the stroke of half-time. But they were also lucky when St Pauli had a goal from Morgan Guilavogui after half an hour disallowed upon review because he was ruled offside.

"We are happy and relieved," Brandt told streaming portal DAZN.

"It wasn't easy. It was quite dour in the first half and we were a bit lucky with the offside goal. But we also had our chances and could have avoided the nervy finale if we had scored another."

Victory came ahead of next week's Champions League trip to Real Madrid in what will be a rematch of last season's final the record winners from Spain won 2-0.

Dortmund rose to fourth in the Bundesliga, one point behind leaders Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. Promoted St Pauli remain third bottom.

On Saturday, Bayern take on last season's runners-up VfB Stuttgart, champions Bayer Leverkusen face third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, and Leipzig are at mid-table Mainz.