Disappointing group stage, conciliatory end – Borussia Dortmund declined to say goodbye to the Champions League and dealt with a little bit of frustration for the bankruptcy in the league summit against FC Bayern. The sportily insignificant 5-0 (2-0) success in the preliminary round sweep over Besiktas Istanbul also flushed 2.8 million euros into the club’s coffers before the third group in the next year in the less lucrative Europa League.
Although BVB coach Marco Rose spared numerous regular players, his team came in front of 15,000 spectators on Tuesday in the Westfalenstadion thanks to the goals from Donyell Malen (29th minute), as well as Marco Reus twice (45th + 2 per penalty / 53rd) and Erling Haaland (68./81.) To an easily played out victory over the harmless Turks, who were the only team in this year’s competition without a point to win. “For us, the game was important to keep in rhythm,” said double-goal scorer Marco Reus on Prime Video: “We wanted to develop automatisms and gain self-confidence for the upcoming games.” The draw on December 13th will reveal which opponents BVB will face in the play-offs of the knockout round on February 17th and 24th.
“There are a lot of good reasons to win the game,” said Rose, emphasizing the value of the sportingly insignificant clash. The coach not only had the winning bonus in mind, but also a little tailwind after the sporting low blows. Rose gave the recently recovered striker Haaland a breather until the 63rd minute, but youngster Jude Bellingham was back in the starting line-up. The Englishman caused a stir with his verbal attack against referee Felix Zwayer after the top game against Bayern. For this, Bellingham had to pay 40,000 euros on Tuesday, but he got around a ban.
Character of a test game
However, the headlines of the past few days have not impressed Bellingham too much. The midfielder was one of the assets again, had two good chances in the first half (17th and 33rd) and prepared Malen’s goal in an exemplary manner. The Dutchman used his precise passport a little happily against the Turkish keeper Ersin Destanoglu. The access continued its last good run: It was the striker’s fourth goal in the last five competitive games. The Dortmund leadership was the logical consequence of a clear superiority.
The Turks presented themselves in their sixth bankruptcy in the sixth game shockingly weak and did not know how to please offensively. Two old acquaintances – the ex-Dortmund Michy Batshuayi and the former Düsseldorf Kenan Karaman – did not change anything. In addition, BVB did not have to quarrel with the referee this time. Shortly before the break, the French referee Francois Letexier pointed to the point after a tackle by Welinton Souza to Mahmoud Dahoud. To make matters worse, Welinton also saw the red card, a very tough decision.
In the bitter defeats against Ajax Amsterdam (1: 3) and Sporting Lisbon (1: 3), BVB had finished the game in a minority. This time it was almost a better practice game. With the third goal, Reus was able to play his entire technical class, especially since the Turks hardly offered any resistance. Then Reus made way for Haaland, who hit his head just five minutes after being substituted on. The Norwegian repeated that again in the closing stages.
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