Gio Reyna scored a brilliant goal for Borussia Dortmund. (Photo courtesy of Borussia Dortmund)

Gio Reyna turned out to be the lone bright spot for Borussia Dortmund in its devastating 5-1 home loss to Stuttgart Saturday.

Not only did the U.S. men’s national team midfielder-forward score Dortmund’s lone goal of the Bundesliga match, but it was also a beauty, when the hosts still were in the match.

After the first of two Wamangituka goals had given Stuttgart the lead in the 26th minute, Reyna scored against the run of play. The 18-year-old latched onto a finely placed right-wing cross from Raphaël Guerreiro.  He deftly touched it with his left foot and sent the ball into the lower right far corner from 12 yards past goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.

Reyna slid on his knees in celebration.

ESPN+ commentators sang Reyna’s praises, calling his third Bundesliga score of the season “a piece of brilliance,” “it was like a piece of magic” and “a lovely goal.”

It appeared Reyna had scored a second goal off an 18-yard effort in the 87th minute, but a teammate was ruled offside.

Dortmund was fortunate to walk off the field with a 1-1 halftime deadlock because it had been outplayed by the visitors.

Stuggart’s domination continued in the second half as it tallied four unanswered goals in this stunning result.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.