A thumping 4-0 dismantling of Augsburg before the international break etched Heidenheim in as the 35th side ever to sit atop the Bundesliga, but it wasn’t long before Dortmund set about ensuring their reign was short-lived.
Some early pressure bore fruit when Adeyemi came in from the right to square it to Donyell Malen, whose low shot was enough to beat Kevin Müller from the edge of the area.
A weak attempt to reply was then thrown back in the face of the visitors as Malen hit them on the counter, finding Julian Brandt and then Adeyemi, who notched one of his own with a low, curled finish.
Incidentally, that was exactly how this fixture last season – also on Friday night of matchday three – had played out, with Heidenheim eventually coming back to salvage a 2-2 draw.
Knowing that gave them confidence, and the lead was duly halved as Omar Haktab Traoré whipped in a deep cross to Marvin Pieringer, who beat Waldemar Anton to it and headed in.
However, Dortmund were unwilling to allow a replication of last season, and new star striker Serhou Guirassy let Julian Ryerson’s cross run into the path of Adeyemi, who coolly guided in his second of the match to re-establish the hosts’ two-goal lead.
Perhaps all that was missing from Dortmund’s attack in the first half was a debut strike for Guirassy, but he went close twice before being substituted, including when Müller got in the way of an acrobatic effort.
Dortmund initially looked comfortable, but referee Robert Schröder found himself pointing to the spot when Niklas Süle took down Mikkel Kaufmann, and the lead was again cut to one by Maximilian Breunig from the spot.
Heidenheim mounted some famous comebacks in their first season in the Bundesliga, but it was Dortmund who had the final say in this one.
Traoré was judged to have handled it in the area in stoppage time, and Emre Can struck from 12 yards to send his side top of the pile for now, although wins for Bayern Munich or RB Leipzig over the weekend would see them ousted.
Heidenheim’s brief period in dreamland comes to an end after just a second defeat in 12 Bundesliga away games, but it’s sure to be a captivating season at the Voith-Arena regardless with European football on the schedule for the first time in their history.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund)
