Dortmund boss Niko Kovac chose to flank Serhou Guirassy with his two new Greek signings for their season opener, and it was a decision which paid great dividends inside the opening 10 minutes.
Hamburg were well off the pace of Dortmund’s passing, and there was some fantastic link-up play between Konstantinos Karetsas and Guirassy, who shifted it onto his right foot on the edge of the area and arrowed a sublime effort into the far corner for the opener.
The rest of the half was disastrous for Hamburg in terms of the run of play, but they survived remarkably long without conceding a second.
Daniel Heuer Fernandes was a big part of that, making saves off Felix Nmecha and Karetsas, while the rest of his side took until the final five minutes of the half to even force Gregor Kobel to get his gloves dirty.
With seconds to go, though, Giannis Konstantelias burst onto Maximilian Beier’s ball and into the area, seeing his eventual shot deflected heavily off Sebastiaan Bornauw and into the far corner.
There was more of the same after the break, though Konstantelias put his next effort wide and was subsequently withdrawn with a knock.
But the hour mark brought new impetus for Hamburg, as Patson Daka missed a pair of chances, including a curling effort which brushed the outside of the post.
Further encouragement was provided for the visitors when the newly-introduced Samuele Inacio was shown a red card for a high challenge on Albert Gronbæk, and wayward efforts from the Dane and Albert Sambi Lokonga soon followed.
Last season’s clean-sheet kings of the Bundesliga ultimately strolled to their first shutout of this campaign, and their tally of 20 shots also showed the extent of the Black and Yellow’s ambition in the final third.
Meanwhile, Hamburg’s second season back in the top flight may be even trickier than the first, with many departures and relatively few new signings, so home-grown talents such as 16-year-old Louis Lemke may need to play a big part.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Konstantinos Karetsas (Borussia Dortmund)