2:5 defeat against Leverkusen: Dortmund’s championship dreams were shattered

It all happened far too quickly for Borussia Dortmund: Bayer Leverkusen destroyed BVB in their own stadium with high-speed counterattacks and prematurely ended all dreams of the championship.

After Bayern had solved their task against RB Leipzig the day before, the gap between the two top teams grew to nine points – with a performance like the 2: 5 (1: 3) against Leverkusen, Marco Rose’s team would have been in the title fight but also no chance. Especially in the second round, the black and yellow didn’t even defend themselves at times and even received whistles from the 10,000 spectators.

Slapstick goal for Dortmund

After ten minutes, Dortmund initially put themselves behind. Dan-Axel Zagadou tried a cross pass in his own penalty area, but it slipped and fell far too short. Patrick Schick used the faux pas to make a pithy shot, which Gregor Kobel clapped forward – right at the feet of Manuel Akanji, who actually wanted to help, but shot the ball into his own net.

But Leverkusen could also own a goal. Five minutes after the 0:1, Julian Brandt hit a sharp free-kick cross from the right wing, which Thomas Meunier wanted to head in. The Belgian missed the ball, but irritated Jeremie Frimpong, whose attempt to save it made it 1-1 in the far corner.

A counterattack as painted

And the game continued spectacularly. Both teams hardly wasted any time in midfield, always looking for the direct route to the end after winning the ball. Bayer managed that in the 20th minute with goal-of-the-month suspicious perfection. Mitchel Bakker intercepted the ball in his own penalty area against Dortmund who had moved up a long way and immediately sent Moussa Diaby on his way, who put the heel off for Schick. With a fantastic direct game, it continued via Karim Bellarabi to the headquarters to Florian Wirtz, who completed this textbook counterattack with a contact.

Striking: Even without Mats Hummels, who was only on the bench after a cold, Dortmund had extreme problems with the pace of Leverkusen. This also resulted in the 1:3: Mo Dahoud couldn’t get behind Schick in another Bayer counterattack and then pushed him centimeters from the edge of the penalty area in dire need. Dahoud avoided a red card and a penalty, but not a goal: Robert Andrich flicked the free kick precisely into the right corner (28′).

Wrong decision to preliminary decision

Leverkusen could have gone even further before the break, but Schick, Wirtz and Bakker missed good chances. In this phase, BVB was no longer in danger of scoring, only after the change did Brandt test Hradecky representative Lennart Grill again with a long-range shot, but he was able to steer the dangerous bounce around the post.

A mistake by the otherwise top referee team led by Daniel Siebert then led to the preliminary decision. After one of the many guest counterattacks, Bellarabi was the last to touch the ball, but Siebert decided on a corner kick. Kobel, who wandered through the penalty area, and Zagadou did not clear enough – Jonathan Tah executed a technically brilliant volley into the left corner to make it 4:1 (53rd).

Little resistance left

After that, Dortmund fell into a mixture of frustration and lethargy that made it impossible to catch up. It was only in the last ten minutes that the attacking action picked up some momentum, but Grill fended off the shots from Giovanni Reyna (80′) and Jude Bellingham (84′) very well.

Suitable for this used afternoon for Dortmund: With another counterattack three minutes before the end, Diaby closed the goal festival for Leverkusen with the 5: 1. Substitute Stefan Tigges then provided a small consolation after a cross from Yousouffa Moukoko (90th).

BVB now to the Iron

With the overall well-deserved victory, Leverkusen are now within five points of BVB. Next Saturday (February 12, 2022, 6.30 p.m.) Bayer can further reduce the gap in the home game against Stuttgart, BVB have the difficult away game at Union Berlin in front of them at 3.30 p.m. the next day.

Source: sportschau.de