14th matchday
“Extremely bitter”: next setback for Borussia Dortmund
Outnumbered early on: Dortmund’s Mats Hummels (l) pulls the emergency brake against his opponent Lois Openda. photo
© Bernd Thissen/dpa
Red card for Leitwolf Mats Hummels, defeat against Leipzig. At BVB the hoped-for frustration does not come to fruition. This is likely to further worsen the already tense mood.
There were no whistles this time, but there were still many unhappy faces. Despite a passionate final spurt with loud support from the fans Borussia Dortmund cannot avert the next setback.
Just three days after the cup exit in Stuttgart, which was accompanied by much criticism, coach Edin Terzic’s team also lost 2:3 (1:1) against RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga. Aided by the early dismissal of BVB defense chief Mats Hummels in the 15th minute, the Leipzig team consolidated fourth place, now four points ahead of BVB.
“Of course it is extremely bitter to lose such an extremely important player right from the start,” said national player Julian Brandt on Sky. Hummels himself commented on the social media platform and thereby leaving the boys on the field for 80 minutes with one less man.”
Black start for BVB
An own goal from Ramy Bensebaini (32nd minute) and goals from Christoph Baumgartner (54th) and Yussuf Poulsen (90th + 1) gave RB a deserved victory on Saturday evening in front of 81,365 spectators in the sold-out Signal Iduna Park. Despite the interim equalizer by Niklas Süle (45th + 6) and the late 2-3 goal by Niclas Füllkrug (90th + 3) as well as a fighting performance this time, the fifth-place team from Dortmund continues to fight for the Champions League places falling behind. According to Brandt, what was positive was “that we showed the fans here that we will try everything until the end.”
As in the previous Bundesliga duels with Munich (0:4), Stuttgart (1:2) and Leverkusen (1:1), there was no victory over a top team in the game against Leipzig. That doesn’t give much encouragement for the difficult Champions League game on Wednesday against Paris Saint-Germain for group victory.
After the cup frustration last Wednesday, Borussia started the game with lots of good intentions. “Life is always about getting up again – especially after setbacks. We discussed openly and honestly,” said coach Edin Terzic before kick-off on Sky. Nevertheless, his eleven, which had been changed to five positions, got off to a major false start. Hummels tried to stop Leipzig’s first dangerous attack with a foul on Lois Openda. The BVB defense chief was shown a red card in the 15th minute for this emergency stop on the edge of the penalty area.
Leipzig dashes Dortmund’s hopes late
This expulsion had a visible impact. Leipzig immediately increased the tempo and had their first chances through Simakan (19th) and Haidara (21st). The quick combination game caused the Dortmund defense to wobble in the following minutes. Because BVB, being outnumbered, initially failed to relieve the pressure with offensive actions, the pressure steadily increased. The deficit seemed only a matter of time. It fit the image of Borussia in crisis that it came about with an own goal. After a corner from Leipzig’s David Raum, Bensebaini headed the ball into his own goal.
But this 0-1 didn’t throw Dortmund off track as expected. Shortly before the break they tried their luck on the offensive. Füllkrug and Salih Özcan forced Janis Blaswich (45th + 5) to make brilliant saves. A little later, the RB keeper was also powerless when substitute Süle volleyed a cross from Julian Brandt into the opposing net.
But Borussia’s hopes of a conciliatory end to the game were dashed shortly after the restart. Although Gregor Kobel parried a shot from Simons, he had no chance when Baumgartner scored from close range.
Two strong reactions from the Dortmund goalkeeper to a double chance from Simons (73′) robbed the guests of an early preliminary decision. BVB was able to hope for an equalizer until the end, but had no luck in the end. On the other hand, Poulsen did better. Füllkrug’s goal came too late for BVB.