The idea was pretty good: Lazio had cut a film that flickered across the two large screens in the Olympic Stadium while warming up before the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund. Goals from Ciro Immobile were shown in close rhythm, and since the sound was very loud and the commentator yelled “Immobileeee” after each goal, the Dortmund players were at least acoustically intimidated.
It took a good five minutes after the kick-off before the striker’s name was screamed through the stadium again. Immobile had made it 1-0 against his former club, where he was never happy. Probably also because in 2014 he was expected to replace Robert Lewandowski in 2014.
No such burden was imposed on summer access Thomas Meunier. But at least the Belgian international is supposed to replace an Achraf Hakimi, who concealed his defensive weaknesses with a lot of speed and offensive force.
At BVB they hoped that Meunier would bring momentum forward in the right midfield and stability in the back. The balance of the first few weeks is therefore sobering, because neither one nor the other can be determined.
This was particularly noticeable in Rome. Before the 0-1, Meunier played a pass that an experienced professional who previously worked for Paris Saint-Germain should not have played. The 29-year-old should have seen that his pass station was under extreme pressure and had to choose either the safe back pass or the aimless, wide pass. “The first goal was a bad pass. It was too easy,” said coach Lucien Favre of the action that led to a sobering 3-1 defeat.
This action also ushered in an evening that confirmed critics in the opinion that Thomas Meunier will hardly help BVB in the coming months. The Belgian’s pass rate was very bad at only 70 percent, as were his crosses. The positional play left a lot to be desired, the actions lacked speed and element of surprise.
“Thomas is good for our game. He’s good for us both as a guy and with his stability and robustness,” said sporting director Michael Zorc at the beginning of the month in order to change the mind of the critics. After the evening in Rome it will be even more difficult for him to come up with this thesis. Especially since Meunier missed the goal after the bad pass that gave BVB the first goal.
That was one of the “five good chances” that coach Favre would later refer to more often. Even more often, however, he complained that Dortmund were “not good at capturing the ball”. He also named the causes: “You have to run, you have to fight. We didn’t do that well.”
“A desolate achievement”
Otherwise, the coach rarely addresses the elementary requirements for a successful game. The fact that he did it in the Olympic Stadium shows how much the Borussia disappointed – again in an away game in the Champions League. The unwillingness to run meters for defensive work was clearly visible in Jadon Sancho. The England international made it even more difficult for Meunier and Lukasz Piszczek, who were positioned behind him. Erling Haaland alone gave the impression that he understood how to deal with the maximally motivated, but also quite flawed Lazio.
Sebastian Kehl found clear words for the performance of the entire team. “That was a desperate performance, especially in the first half,” said the head of the licensing department.
Foto: Philippe Lecoeur / imago images / PanoramiC
Kehl often stands in front of the microphones instead of the sports director when it comes to fathoming performances like the one at the start of the European elite league. The only thing that will give him hope is that BVB will often improve significantly in the next game. That would be particularly important to the fans in this case, because the Revierderby against FC Schalke 04 is on Saturday evening.
