18th matchday
4-0 in Cologne – BVB again without conceding a goal despite defensive difficulties
Scored twice in BVB’s victory in Cologne: Donyell Malen. photo
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Mats Hummels and his defense chief deputy Emre Can are out, Niklas Süle has to go out during the break: Borussia Dortmund are slowly running out of central defenders. Nevertheless, BVB wins 4-0.
Second game, second win, second time without Conceded goal – and with an absolute emergency defense: Borussia Dortmund started the year 2024 and the planned race to catch up to the Champions League places with two clear away wins against relegation candidates.
A week after the 3-0 win at Darmstadt 98, BVB also won the penultimate 1. FC Köln 4-0 (1-0) at the start of the second half of the season. Cologne coach Timo Schultz had a disappointing start after last week’s 1-1 draw against Heidenheim with one point from two home games. His team acted bravely, but far too harmlessly.
Donyell Malen (12th/61st), Niclas Füllkrug (58th, penalty kick) and Youssoufa Moukoko (90th + 2) secured BVB a deserved, but too high, victory. Remarkable: Despite acute personnel problems in defense with the failures of Mats Hummels and Emre Can before the game as well as Niklas Süle at the break, the runner-up remained without conceding a goal in the second game of the year.
At BVB, Jadon Sancho was somewhat surprisingly in the starting line-up after coming on as a substitute during the comeback in Darmstadt. Coach Edin Terzic praised his fitness during the week, but otherwise remained cautious. The game started brightly without any fan chants in the first twelve minutes as a protest against the planned DFL investor. BVB had their first big chance in the 4th minute – and Sancho was involved straight away. The Englishman fed Julian Brandt, whose shot from 18 meters bounced past Marvin Schwäbe, but Füllkrug stumbled as he followed up. Half a minute before the planned end of the mood boycott, the score was 0-1: Because Linton Maina wasn’t paying attention, Malen was allowed to shoot in unhindered from twelve meters after a corner from Brandt.
After this early lead, Dortmund were once again very deep, as in previous games, and left almost the entire game to Cologne. However, the guests repeatedly pushed the Cologne team onto the wings, from where the crosses mostly came to nothing without a nominal striker after the failures of Mark Uth, Davie Selke and Luca Waldschmidt. Meanwhile, Dortmund continued to have the better chances. Either through one of the rare relief attacks like from Füllkrug (33rd) or from standards like in the case of Thomas Meunier (37th).
After the break, Süle also had to stay in the locker room after being injured. The personnel shortage was now so great that 19-year-old Hendry Blank from the 2nd team made his debut – and immediately paid a lot of money. In his first action in the Bundesliga, he was simply overrun by Thielmann, but the Cologne substitute striker was denied by Gregor Kobel at Cologne’s first significant opportunity.
And then BVB followed up, with strong help from FC. Rasmus Carstensen was clumsy in the challenge against Sancho, who had hardly been seen since his assist in the early stages, but he accepted the gift and Füllkrug safely converted. The Cologne team now threw everything forward too quickly, the second winter signing Ian Maatsen sent Malen steep, who ran 40 meters alone towards the goal and finished safely. Moukoko, who was rumored to be courted by Cologne in the summer and winter up until the transfer ban, was, as in Darmstadt, the joker at the end.