A goal by the Englishman Jadon Sancho and a double by the Norwegian Erling Haaland gave Borussia Dortmund a 1-3 victory over RB Leipzig, second-placed in the Bundesliga who had the possibility of beating Bayern Munich and taking the lead with a victory .
The victory of Dortmund, Sevilla’s rival in the Champions League round of 16, was forged in the second half after the team concentrated on the defensive part in the first half.
Leipzig had a clear superiority at the beginning when it came to ball possession and during the first half hour of play they also exercised some territorial dominance by ensuring that the game was played predominantly in the Dortmund half.
However, arrivals were conspicuous by their absence throughout the entire first half. Dortmund closed the spaces well and, except for a center by Spanish Angeliño who had to clear with his fists, goalkeeper Roman Bürki had little work to do.
Dortmund seemed to want to play the game from a degree of defensive security and only after the first half hour of play did they begin to be more daring when it came to offensive excursions.
The first noteworthy was in the 31st minute, with an overflow on the right of the Belgian Thomas Meunier whose center did not find a target.
Later, in ’43, there was another arrival that culminated in a Marco Reus center blocked by Marcel Sabitzer.
The expected duel between Erling Haaland and Dayot Upamecano seemed postponed and on the side of the Dortmund area, not many things worth mentioning were happening either.
The most notable was a ball that Emile Forsberg put into the area to Adams in the 26th who could have tried the shot but launched a cross that was blocked by Mats Hummels
In the second half Dortmund stepped up their offensive efforts. In minute 49, a Reus shot was deflected to a corner kick by Magyar goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. Soon after, Haaland didn’t find a good shot angle.
In 56 the first goal came, in a play that originated in a side kick in the Dortmund half. Reus and Haaland played from the wall, Haaland, after a good overflow, launched a cross from the right that Reus extended with his heel so that Sancho could define without problems inside the area
After the goal, Dortmund continued to insist. In the 59th minute a good combination ended in a shot over the Portuguese Raphael Guerreiro and in the 65th, a pass from Sancho, Haaland burst the ball against the crossbar.
Leipzig was about to respond, with a shot to the post by Spanish Dani Olmo in 67, but in 71, Haaland, with a header, made the second head to center from Sancho. The play had been prepared by the Norwegian striker himself, taking three opponents off of him before opening the ball to the right to the English.
The sentence came in 83, when Haaland defined within the area to pass from Reus. The discount, marked by Sorloth in 1990, was only a matter of statistics.
In the standings, Bayern Munich continues to lead with 33 points, ahead of Leipzig (31 points) and Leverkusen (29 points). Borussia (28 points) are hooked into the leading group, ranking 4th, qualifying for the Champions League.
Although the news of the day in German football was in Gelsenkirchen. After 30 consecutive games without winning the Bundesliga, Schalke broke the curse by beating Hoffenheim 4-0, thanks to a hat-trick from American Matthew Hoppe and a goal from Moroccan Amine Harit.
‘In extremis’, the ‘mining’ club avoided joining Tasmania Berlin, which holds the undesirable all-time German championship record, with a 31-match winless series in 1965-66.
Schalke had not won in the Bundesliga since January 17, 2020, 2-0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Incidentally, he escaped from the last place in the table, which is now held by Mainz, but is still in relegation places (17th) three units from the playoff square, in the hands of a Bielefeld who will host Hertha Berlin on Sunday.
Datasheet:
1 – Leipzig: Gulacsi; Orban, Upamecano, Halstenberg; Adams, Haidara (Hwang, m.71), Sabitzer (Klostermann, m.71), Angeliño; Forsberg (Sorloth, m.61), Olmo; y Poulsen (Samardizic, m.88).
3 – Borussia Dortmund: Bürki; Meunier, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro; Witsel (Can, m. 30), Delaney (Zagadou, m. 69); Sancho (Tigger, m. 85), Reus (Brandt, m. 85), Reyna; y Haaland.
Goals: 0-1, m .: Sancho. 0-2, m.71: Haaland. 0-3, m.83: Haaland. 1-3, m.90: Sorloth
Referee: Daniel Siebert. He admonished Delaney and Akanji.
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