During the ritual with the team line-up before kick-off, stadium announcer Norbert Dickel waited in vain for the obligatory echo from the audience. At his request “Tom…” it just echoed back correctly from a few really insiders: “Rothe!” Half an hour later things went much better: Borussia Dortmund’s youngest seventeen-year-old, a certain Tom Alexander Rothe, gave BVB a 1-0 lead against VfL Wolfsburg with a technically brilliant spin-header. And Dickel couldn’t get enough and let the 79,000 spectators yell at him three times in a row: Rothe! Rothe! Rothe!
The personal little fairy tale of the 1.92 meter long Schlaks, who was born in the North Sea Canal and only moved to Dortmund from FC St. Pauli last summer, was already written. Rothe needed 24 minutes for his goal debut on his Bundesliga debut. Nobody could have guessed that the U19 national player, whom BVB coach Marco Rose had simply placed on the outside left, would trigger a veritable avalanche with his corner kick. 5-0 at half-time, 6-1 at the final whistle.
Completely contrary to the club’s conventions when dealing with young players, the beaming debutant was even allowed to appear in front of the cameras of the Sky television station afterwards: “An indescribable day, it can’t get any better,” Rothe could only say, and that he was only because of the injury misery slipped into the team. Raphael Guerreiro had to pass, ex-national player Nico Schulz obviously didn’t want to bring Rose either, and that’s how Rothe’s dream start in professional life came about. After his goal, the young man was lucky not to have suffered a concussion as his team-mates pounded on his curly hair to celebrate the goal.
“That’s not worthy of VfL Wolfsburg,” scolds sports director Marcel Schäfer
Wolfsburg’s sporting director Marcel Schäfer had to contain himself after the final whistle: “Great weather and 80,000 people in the stadium, which we haven’t had for a long time. It’s not worthy of VfL Wolfsburg to deliver such a performance on a day like this.” In fact, after Rothe’s debut goal, VfL collapsed for almost half an hour. Axel Witsel (26th), Manuel Akanji (28th) and Emre Can (34th) quickly increased to 4-0 without much resistance, sometimes even with the help of the guests, until striker Erling Haaland finally scored his first goal after five games without was able to contribute a goal (38th) – set free by Marco Reus so cleanly that the Norwegian applauded the Dortmund team captain for his 5-0 victory instead of bursting out in celebration himself. After the break, Dortmund took things a little easier after Haaland’s second goal to make it 6-0. BVB goalkeeper Kobel showed brilliant reflexes three times, but shortly before the end BVB allowed Riedle Baku to score from Wolfsburg (82′).
The spectators who traveled with Wolfsburg vented their frustration on the fence in front of the north stand after the game, and the players took the insults in consternation. Coach Florian Kohlfeldt couldn’t understand the dismantling of his team either: “It happened what just happens to us again and again. We played well last week – and then again such a drop in tension.” Remaining in the class is probably not at risk, the reputation of Kohfeldt’s troupe is more likely.
With a bang under the bar: Erling Haaland scored 6-0 against Wolfsburg’s Sebastien Bornauw (left) and Koen Casteels (right).
(Photo: Patrick Scheiber/Imago)
For Rothe and Dortmund’s fans it didn’t make that much of a difference this Saturday whether the opponent had surrendered halfway or whether the highest half-time lead of all BVB Bundesliga times was down to your own skill. Marco Rose had already announced, probably in coordination with the designated new sports director Sebastian Kehl, that he wanted to use the so-called perspective players from the A-Juniors team more at the end of the season – and if necessary, several seasoned professionals to the second rank carry.
Rothe was the tip of the iceberg. Rose later switched to defender Lion Semic, 18, as well as Londoner Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, 17, who BVB believe could be the next Jadon Sancho, and Yossoufa Moukoko, who is also only 17, and the already 20-year-old Reinier.
Reus and Brandt successfully share the work on the 10th
In midfield, Marco Reus and Julian Brandt seemed to work out, who shared the role of ten behind Haaland in job sharing. That made both of them look better and, in addition to many good scenes and ball conquests, both also recorded two points for their assists. At the same time, the BVB defense wobbled in several situations even against the passive Wolfsburg.
Four games before the end, the lead in fifth place is large enough that the renewed Champions League qualification is almost certain. The last really important game for Dortmund is coming up next week: at FC Bayern. BVB couldn’t keep up with Munich again this season. It’s all about a little prestige. For some Dortmund players, however, it is probably also about their personal football future. The second stage of squad planning has started this Saturday at the latest.