Borussia Dortmund is the league leader in the Bundesliga. And if the top match between Leverkusen and Munich on Sunday ended without a winner, the Westphalians would stay first for at least a week – who would have thought that possible after their bloodless appearance on the 6th matchday at 0-1 in Mönchengladbach?
The game that brought the league lead – a 3: 1 (1: 0) against Mainz, at the same time the ninth league home win in a row – could not have started better for BVB. Everyone looked at Erling Haaland, who has been relieved of the stubborn bruise in his thigh that stopped him for weeks; but the ball landed after a fine relay over the right and two inadequate attempts at clarification by the guests in front of Marco Reus’ left foot. He hammered the ball into the corner of the goal with a full cocked shot after only 159 seconds. Reus and Mainz, wasn’t there something? Correct: In his 21st game against Rheinhessen, it was already the 21st scorer point for Borussia.
The center forward only finds its way into the game late
Sometimes, however, an early lead is poison for your own team, and although BVB continued to act offensively in the stadium, which was well-filled with a good 64,000 spectators, only a little jumped out with almost 85 percent possession. The guests, who were now getting better and better, released themselves from their grip. Haaland was first noticed because he struggled because he rarely got the ball. So he acted as a template provider, Meunier barely forgave (22nd). When most of the viewers expected the half-time whistle, the ball came almost unexpectedly to the Norwegian; Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner had to make himself particularly big to prevent the second goal, which was averted a fraction of a second later when Jude Bellingham’s conclusion was cleared exactly on the line by the recovered Mainz captain Moussa Niakhaté.
The second half also began with a climax … oh well, with three bangs: First, Haaland dribbled at the penalty spot and was just hindered (how exactly, that wasn’t to be seen at first); In the direct counter-attack, the Dortmund man Manuel Akanji drove the Mainz Karim Onisiwo into the parade with a very risky tackle in his own penalty area. At the same time, referee Schlager was asked to take a closer look at a scene – not Akanji’s tackle, but an offense by Mainz’s Silvan Widmer, who had thrown Haaland out of step in the scene with a handball. And even if the Mainz people lamented, you have to say: yes, it was a criminal hand touch; Haaland turned – with a lot of luck – in the middle of the goal, Hundreds of weight almost caught the ball. “Only in the course of the second half did we trust ourselves to do something,” said Mainz sports director Martin Schmidt. “But the pressure from Dortmund was too great today for the whole game.”
Again, Dortmund does not manage to play to zero
In the end, it was mainly Haaland that made the difference. “We just missed Erling, he always ties two or three players,” said BVB captain Reus. “The fact that he scores two goals is great. We signed him for that.” After 2-0, Dortmund tried to take it easy, the team looked a bit flat – and that at the beginning of three English weeks.
That is not without risk against the spiky Mainz, and there were also great chances for Onisiwo (62nd, over) and Boetius (77th, parried by Kobel). Marco Rose was therefore a bit critical: “It would have been very good if we could have taken Erling out sooner. But he always scores a goal in the 95th minute that can help,” commented the Dortmund coach. “We also need him in the back as a free man with standards.”
Nevertheless, the connection goal fell by Jonathan Burkardt (87th) after a huge defensive sloppiness from Dortmund, but it fell too late. Nonetheless, Rose complained: “After the 2-0 win, we actually had the necessary calm. But at the back we make it difficult again. It is unnecessary to have to keep talking about this topic.”
Although they couldn’t keep the zero again, at least this time the Borussia were no longer embarrassed. On the contrary: Bellingham licked the ball from Widmer – yes: again Widmer – in stoppage time, served Haaland – yes, again Haaland – who finished cool on his ninth goal of the season (in only six games!), Almost as cool as in that one strange training video with the Norwegian and three balls. It’s too good to be true. But that could also be said about the new Bundesliga leaders.