The competition showed off, and Borussia Dortmund followed suit thanks to a remarkable flying header from Mats Hummels: four days after the celebrated entry into the quarter-finals of the Champions League, coach Edin Terzic’s team consolidated their position in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 (1-1) win against Eintracht Frankfurt the coveted premier class place.
Karim Adeyemi (33rd), Hummels (81st) after a free kick from Julian Brandt and Emre Can (90th + 3, penalty) turned the game around with their goals. The former Dortmund fan favorite Mario Götze (13th) had given the guests the lead. Eight game days before the end of the season, BVB is one point ahead of RB Leipzig, Frankfurt remains sixth.
BVB goalkeeper Meyer initially parries strongly – but is powerless when Götze makes a follow-up shot
Terzic changed his team to five positions compared to the second leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven (2-0) for the “necessary freshness”. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel was missing with an injury, and Jadon Sancho, who was also not completely fit, initially only sat on the bench.
Even without the recently strong Englishman, the hosts took command in front of 81,365 spectators in the once again sold-out Signal Iduna Park. Marco Reus (7th) and Ian Maatsen (11th) approached the Frankfurt goal from a distance. But then came the cold shower for BVB. After a mistake by Nico Schlotterbeck, Omar Marmoush sprinted alone towards the Dortmund goal. Kobel representative Alexander Meyer made a strong save, but World Cup hero Götze scored in the margin to give the guests the lead.
BVB only shook briefly and pushed for the equalizer. Willian Pacho saved a header from Niclas Füllkrug off the line (18th). Füllkrug is traveling to the German national team on Monday as the only player from the runner-up. Like some of his teammates, Adeyemi was not taken into account by national coach Julian Nagelsmann. But that didn’t stop him from equalizing from close range after strong preparatory work from Donyell Malen. After that, things got wild. Until the break, both teams carelessly missed good counterattack situations by losing the ball unnecessarily.
The Hessians came out of the locker room bravely. First, ex-Dortmunder Ansgar Knauff slipped in a promising position in the penalty area (49th), and a minute later Dina Ebimbe was denied by Meyer from a tight angle. Dortmund, on the other hand, needed some warm-up time to find their rhythm again. At the start of the second half, the hosts lacked precision and determination.
Hummels scores artistically – referee Stieler takes back red for BVB captain Can
After almost an hour, the black and yellow took more control again. However, they struggled to find gaps in Eintracht’s compact defense. Terzic responded with a double substitution, bringing on Felix Nmecha and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.
However, BVB still lacked ideas and Frankfurt remained dangerous on the few counterattacks. But Marmoush failed due to Meyer’s strong reaction (68′). On the other hand, Malen tried from a distance (71′). Then Hummels made his big appearance: he artistically sank a free-kick cross from Brandt with a diving header into the Frankfurt goal.
Shortly afterwards, referee Tobias Stieler gave BVB captain Can a red card for serious foul play. After consulting with the video assistant, Stieler looked at the scene again and revised his decision – yellow instead of red. Can stayed on the pitch and scored from a penalty in stoppage time (Eintracht national player Robin Koch had fouled BVB joker Bynoe-Gittens). 3:1 final score.