Dhe derby between Borussia Dortmund and VfL Bochum wasn’t a game that will generally leave deep memories for the Borussia Dortmund squad, but that’s not the worst news for BVB, where it’s particularly easy to oscillate between extremes. The favorite won the game 3-0 (3-0), and coach Edin Terzic summed it up briefly: “We are completely satisfied with the game.”
However, what will remain at least until next Thursday – the day of the squad nomination for the World Cup – is the debate about whether Youssoufa Moukoko can be a solution to the problems of the national team in the center of attack.
The attack of the DFB-Elf is thin, Timo Werner will be out after his foot injury on Tuesday, and Moukoko is maturing at an impressive pace. Against VfL Bochum, the attacker not only scored two goals in a Bundesliga game for the first time, they were also goals worth seeing, which goalkeeper Gregor Kobel described as “outstanding”.
Moukoko with Bundesliga record
The 17-year-old striker made it 1-0 from around 20 meters by giving a very hard shot a very unusual trajectory under the bar (8th), and to make it 3-0 he lifted the ball from a great distance over the far too far Bochum goalkeeper Manuel Riemann (45th) standing in front of his goal into the net. Some BVB supporters were reminded of Lars Ricken’s goal in the 1997 Champions League final, which is one of the most memorable moments in the club’s history. But even beyond his goals, Moukoko is developing into an increasingly valuable team player. “He made a giant step in the whole game,” said Terzic.
The three Dortmund goals also benefited from Bochum’s weak defensive work, with which the bottom of the table spoiled what was actually a decent performance. Patrick Fabian, VfL’s sporting director, found VfL’s defensive work “naive” and said: “We concede far too many goals, and too many penalties, so it’s just difficult to score points away from home.”
In any case, the game was decided early on with Bochum’s 35th goal this season, although BVB did not play brilliantly from the first to the last minute. In a phase after Giovanni Reyna had scored a penalty to make it 2-0 (12th), the negligence that this team has been struggling with for years was shown again. “We made up our minds not to do less after the 2-0 lead, to keep our foot on the gas pedal, but that didn’t work so well,” admitted Terzic.
It fits perfectly: Youssoufa Moukoko scores to make it 1-0.
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Image: Reuters
In the meantime, there was a lack of intensity in the duels, Nico Schlotterbeck made an amazing series of small and big mistakes, and VfL had promising opportunities to finish. The guests even cheered once, but Philipp Hofmann was just offside when he scored (27′). However, this moment of shock was not suitable as a wake-up call for BVB.
In the quarter of an hour after half-time, Bochum played four or five more situations in which only the final pass was missing for a big chance. Once Jordi Osei-Tutu even appeared completely free in front of the Dortmund goal, but goalkeeper Kobel deflected Bochum’s shot to the post. However, Moukoko also had the opportunity for a third goal, but the teenager shot just wide from twelve meters (57th).
That didn’t hurt the Dortmunders that day, especially since Moukoko is now the youngest player to have scored ten Bundesliga goals. And when captain Marco Reus ended his Bundesliga absence due to injury, the people in the south stand were finally happy. Whereby many of the BVB fans only want to observe from a great distance whether their captain will play a central role at the World Cup in Qatar.
Before the game, a small farewell ceremony for Reinhard Rauball, who will not run again for the office of BVB president at the general meeting on November 20, turned into an impressive show of protest against the World Cup. The people on the Dortmund south stand expressed their uneasiness about the tournament on a number of banners. A huge banner asked the football audience not to watch World Cup games, and another banner read: “More deaths than minutes played.” It was Dortmund’s last home game before the World Cup, and similar ones will be played in the other stadiums over the next two match days Actions follow.
