Had it really only lasted five minutes? A whistle, a few circulations, a good play, should that be enough? Dortmund’s cup defeat against second division team St. Pauli during the week once again raised the question of whether this team should really still be able to win a title, given that they had often fallen short of their own expectations in the past few weeks.
Since Tuesday, only the Europa League and – theoretically – the Bundesliga have remained for such mind games. So answers were needed, and it took just under five minutes in the league game against TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday for BVB to show that – theoretically – they could do anything. In a hand-stopped 24 seconds, Dortmund played forward in a flow from the defensive, Donyell Malen and Jude Bellingham combined with a one-two through the Hoffenheim penalty area, Erling Haaland used the cross pass to make it 1-0. It seemed as if Dortmund had neither overly saddened nor playfully limited the cup end.
The remaining 85 minutes showed why it is still necessary to add that a Dortmund title win is only a theoretical possibility. Dortmund won 3-2 in Sinsheim, but once again in a way that did not underpin their ambitions in a playful or tactical manner. After the final whistle it looked as if relief was written all over Dortmund’s faces – which was not only due to their own performance, but also to the opponent.
Goalscorer Haaland has to be replaced due to an adductor injury
TSG – also eliminated from the cup by a 4-1 defeat against Freiburg during the week – played so powerfully and dominantly at times that one was almost inclined to trust Sebastian Hoeneß’s team with everything.
Haaland’s opening goal, for example, didn’t unsettle the people of Kraichgau, but spurred them on. After eleven minutes, Georginio Rutter hit the post with a header from a corner, in the 23rd minute Chris Richards repeated the process in a slightly different form and failed on the crossbar. Then Hoffenheim took over the game for a good twenty minutes: Dortmund hardly played offensively, even Haaland seemed to have signed off.
At the other end, Manuel Akanji cleared in the last second before Andrej Kramaric (40′), who was ready to score, but the Croatian then scored the deserved equalizer in the first few moments of added time. Kramaric took a cross from Ihlas Bebou directly, ending his nine-goal run. “We had big problems until the break, the equalizer was deserved,” said coach Marco Rose.
Three assists against TSG: Donyell Malen (to the right of Hoffenheim’s Munas Dabbur).
(Photo: Oliver Zimmermann/foto2press/imago)
The second half initially brought little change. The hosts attacked boldly and meanwhile worked out a goal shot statistic of 13:3. But then Dortmund did what this highly talented team can do at any time in any competition: They scored after a second excellent combination to take the lead again.
This time the ball reached Mats Hummels and Donyell Malen through the middle to Marco Reus, who scored alone in front of goalkeeper Oliver Baumann to make it 2-1. In combination with coach Rose’s decision to switch to a five-man chain, this resulted in a starting position from which Dortmund now played much better – even if goalscorer Haaland had to be replaced due to an adductor injury.
Dortmund is experiencing a wild final phase again
Hoffenheim’s relentless offensive urge ended for the time being, instead BVB managed to extend the lead: The strong Malen (three assists) played free on the left side in the 67th minute and put it flat in the middle, from where Hoffenheim’s full-back David Raum into his own goal scored. The 3:1 did not correspond to the game shares, consequently the two-goal lead did not remain: in the middle of the short phase in which Dortmund took control of the game for the first time, Georginio Rutter scored the goal (77th).
Dortmund again experienced a wild final phase, this time – unlike during the week – from the position of the defender. Sebastian Rudy (89th) had the best opportunity to equalize, which certainly would not have been undeserved. “We are happy to have won this difficult game,” said Reus. Central defender Akanji said it’s “not easy to deliver consistently”.
Dortmund are currently going through a phase in which an away win in Hoffenheim has to be fought for instead of won – at least that’s how Rose saw it, who classified the 3-2 win as “flattering”. At the same time, from BVB’s point of view, the pressure on the leaders from Munich remains high after points. And a title remains a theoretically conceivable scenario.