When Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus prepared the ball for a free kick from 18 meters away in added time on Saturday evening for the last action of the game, Bayer Leverkusen’s central defender Edmond Tapsoba was in goal with the sweaty gloves of his goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky. The latter had just accidentally caught a ball just outside the penalty area. The referee Felix Brych himself could only see this in slow motion on a monitor at the edge of the field.
Brych then showed Hradecky the red card (according to the regulations “for thwarting a scoring chance” because an opponent had approached) and gave Dortmund a free kick. Because Leverkusen had already made five changes, defender Tapsoba had to go in goal. But Reus was merciful. He carelessly flicked the free kick over the goal so that Tapsoba didn’t even have to try to make a flying save. Reus knew: BVB would still win, because he scored the goal of the day in the 9th minute.
The goal that gave Dortmund a 1-0 (1-0) win in a duel in which an average of five goals per game had been scored in the previous ten games lasted until the end. But that’s exactly what Dortmund were happy about this time: that they won without conceding a goal. Better 1-0 than 3-2. The defensive was a big deficit in the previous season under coach Marco Rose. That’s one of the reasons why Edin Terzic was appointed as the new coach.
BVB access Adeyemi initiates the goal of the day, but has to be replaced early on injured
The Dortmund football temple as that stony drone in which you can hardly communicate with your footballers because 81,365 spectators shout in between – Terzic had never experienced that as a coach before. When the 39-year-old had already been a BVB coach temporarily in the first half of 2021, the Signal Iduna Park, which was empty due to the corona situation, was like the quiet car of an ICE. At that time, the Sauerland shouted at his players in an easily understandable way about mostly quite successful games. On Saturday evening against Leverkusen, however, Terzic’s ears rang as if the surf of the Atlantic Ocean were tumbling him. What he learned was that you can win without being able to get all the nuances across to the players.
Dortmund played like they did in the previous 3-0 cup win at 1860 Munich, but had to replace the injured central defender Niklas Süle with Mats Hummels. At Bayer, five new players came into the starting XI because the cup game at third division Elversberg had been lost 3-4 in an embarrassing way. Leverkusen wanted to be safer and more compact.
Successful poking: Marco Reus (wearing black and yellow stockings) marks BVB’s goal of the day early on.
(Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP)
This request was initially invalid after nine minutes when Reus scored the 1-0 lead. Goalkeeper Hradecky stopped a shot on goal by BVB signing Karim Adeyemi with pinpoint accuracy on the line. Piero Hincapié couldn’t get the ball away when Reus rushed in and poked the ball over the line.
Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick fails twice in a promising position
For Leverkusen’s fighter Robert Andrich the game was over after 13 minutes due to injury (Charles Aránguiz came in for him), for Dortmund’s winger Adeyemi after 22 minutes (Thorgan Hazard came in for him). As a result, Dortmund lost a bit of danger, while Leverkusen gradually gained more game shares.
Before the eyes of the national coach Hansi Flick – who had already watched the afternoon game between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Mainz 05 and then rushed the almost 100 kilometers from one Borussia to the other – the attackers forgave after the break here (Hazard) and over there (Patrik Schick) considerable opportunities.
Goalkeeper for a few seconds: central defender Edmund Tapsoba (wearing a blue vest), who had to put the goal in for Leverkusen’s regular keeper Lukas Hradecky, was no longer tested by free-kick taker Marco Reus.
(Photo: David Inderlied / Kirchner-Media/Imago)
Schick, who has a good chance of becoming the Bundesliga’s top scorer as successor to Robert Lewandowski, was exceptionally lacking in coolness after two top-class scoring opportunities after a good hour. But you also have to say: Dortmund’s goalkeeper Gregor Kobel parried both times in a circus-ready manner. When the ball finally landed in the goal through Schick’s leg (80′), his passer Sardar Azmoun had previously been offside.
For Dortmund’s new sporting director Sebastian Kehl it was a victory of will: “The team worked hard,” he said, “they fought and bit and fought back with intensity.” Precisely because this was not always the case last season, Kehl praised the mentality of the team. Captain Reus also thought: “We didn’t exactly convince in terms of play, but we accepted everything – and the coach plays a big role in that.”
After the game, the many spectators were initially not allowed to leave the stadium because the engine was running in an unoccupied car in the multi-storey car park. The police found this suspicious. But it didn’t take long before the all-clear could be given. And that’s how a nice evening of football ended for Dortmund without incident.