It took 84 minutes, then the courage of VfB Stuttgart turned into high spirits. The Swabians approached their own corner as if they were not in 16th place in the table and as if it were not 1: 1 in the game against the second in the table, but rather as if a victory in Dortmund were the only noble goal: VfB secured himself and his game, which had been outstanding up to that point, was not enough, which then became a nuisance when Dortmund’s Steffen Tigges got the ball in the penalty area and played a pass that ultimately ensured that VfB Stuttgart slipped deeper into the relegation battle – and Borussia Dortmund is back after the 2-1 victory in the championship fight.
Tigges’ pass from the penalty area initiated BVB’s best move this Saturday afternoon, which also explained what they are most comfortable with in Dortmund at the moment: space to counterattack. The long ball from his own half went to Marco Reus, who served Thorgan Hazard. The Stuttgart goalkeeper Florian Müller was still able to parry Hazard’s conclusion, but the margin from Reus was no longer there and if Reus had not been there, another Dortmund player would have used the rebound: Six BVB players had sprinted from their own into the opponent’s penalty area within a few seconds, with the joy of space. Mats Hummels, who was not too enthusiastic about sprinting, cheered most euphorically, despite obviously heavy breathing.
“In the end, a counterattack after the opposing corner was crucial to get the result,” said Hummels after the game at Sky. He had his breath under control again, as did his euphoria: “After the 1-1 we didn’t have it shone big, “said the central defender critically. And: “In between we had this phase again where we lost too many balls.” The Dortmund player’s criticism of his own game was quite justified, because apart from the considerable counterattack, BVB actually did not come enough over the 90 minutes to declare themselves a dangerous pursuer of Bayern.
Open game between top team and relegation candidate
The Stuttgart-based team pressed BVB right from the start with a courageous, aggressive duel and had the courage to find playful solutions in their own half. The Dortmund Pressing had surprisingly little to counter this, between the tabular top team and the relegation candidate an open game developed with chances on both sides: Reus’ free kick (7th minute) and Donyell Malen’s header (13th) could have given BVB the lead , but Stuttgart had the best opportunity. Tanguy Coulibaly came on the ball in the 38th minute after Orel Mangala presented it, Gregor Kobel in the Dortmund goal showed a brilliant save.
“I think we were too flawed with the ball in the first half,” said BVB coach Marco Rose after the game, but it was mainly the lack of creativity and momentum in front of the opposing goal that was a bit worrying. The fact that the injured Erling Haaland is still missing in the offensive context can be seen in almost every action in BVB. Against VfB, Malen took over the job as striker, but let himself be blocked again and again by the Stuttgart defense – until he benefited from it in the 56th minute: Hiroki Ito falsified Malen’s shot decisively, the 1-0 was the first Bundesliga goal of the Dutchman.
Just look after: Mats Hummels can’t keep up with Stuttgart’s Roberto Massimo.
(Photo: Gabriel Boia / Eibner / imago)
Six minutes later, however, one of the ball losses discussed by Hummels followed: The advanced central defender Manuel Akanji was harassed by Stuttgart’s Philipp Förster and lost the ball, Atakan Karazor then found the gap in Dortmund’s back four and Roberto Massimo left Hummels cheekily with a hook in a duel in order to then skilfully slip past Kobel to make it 1: 1 (63rd). Dortmund reacted, even if the big chances arose more by chance, like Akanji’s long-range shot, which was deflected off the crossbar in the 67th minute.
The BVB wobbles, but gets the points
In order to get to one point in the table against FC Bayern – in two weeks’ time in Dortmund – BVB finally needed a pinch of Swabian naivety in counter-protection. Nevertheless, a certain quality of the Dortmund team is emerging in this regard: “We are on one point, we do not have an easy phase and are fighting for our points in the Bundesliga,” said Rose on Sky. BVB has taken these points so far, however, nine wins from twelve games are a solid record. Hummels agreed: “It was important that we could make up the three lost points from two weeks ago.”
However, Hummels gave himself the addition “in order to be able to continue to become champions,” just as Rose will know: in order not only to be able to stick with Bayern, but also to possibly overtake them, BVB urgently needs to start playing better football to play.