“Everyone won, except FC Bayern” – Dortmund’s greeting to Munich
The gap to FC Bayern is only three points. At the latest after the victory in Leverkusen, Dortmund belongs to the group of title candidates and allows itself a small tip in the direction of Munich. Marco Reus, who celebrated his comeback, also hopes for further success.
GIs there still something for Borussia Dortmund in the fight for the German championship? In the first half of the season, given the performances shown, the lack of consistency and the distance to the top of the table, the chance for the title seemed at best to be theoretical. After the mistakes made by record champions Bayern, BVB is now back in business.
Dortmund took advantage of the moment and are breathing down Munich again: With the 2-0 (1-0) win at Bayer Leverkusen, BVB celebrated their third win in the third game of the year and moved up to three points behind Munich. Since Bayern have only drawn 1-1 so far this year, Borussia made up for six points on their long-term rivals in an English week and is now fourth.
“We knew it was going to be a game changer today. On the one hand, keep Leverkusen at a distance, on the other hand, of course, also use the results of the other teams and stay ahead,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl, meaning only a competitor, as he later explained himself and allowed himself a small tip: “Everyone else has also won, except for Bayern Munich. This threesome is incredibly important.” And the weaknesses of the big favorite didn’t go unnoticed by the players either: “We’re looking at each other, but the draw obviously plays into our hands,” admitted Karim Adeyemi.
Haller lets Adeyemi through
BVB had taken the lead with the international’s first Bundesliga goal (33′) – Sébastien Haller had let the ball through for Adeyemi on his debut after his testicular cancer. An own goal by Edmond Tapsoba (53rd) then secured Dortmund’s victory in the duel, which coach Edin Terzic had previously called unusually clear as groundbreaking. Bayer’s race to catch up was stopped after five wins in a row. Due to the first home defeat under coach Xabi Alonso, a secure place in the European Cup is now eight points away.
Leverkusen scores, Dortmund celebrates: the BVB players celebrate the 2-0
Source: AP/Martin Meissner
At BVB, Haller replaced the weak Youssoufa Moukoko in the starting XI in his first competitive game in 240 days – back then for the national team of Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Zambia (3-1). Marco Reus sat on the bench until the 85th before making his comeback after almost three months. Mo Dahoud and Thorgan Hazard, who, according to a report by “WAZ”, is about to move to PSV Eindhoven, did not make it into the squad.
In the Bayer midfield, Alonso built an additional security in the Argentine world champion Exequiel Palacios. But as so often in a direct duel, both teams started offensively, with Bayer initially setting more accents. In the 5th minute, a few Leverkusen fans celebrated a little prematurely, but Nadiem Amiri’s shot after a strong ball win against Emre Can only touched the side netting. Although BVB got stronger after that, the hosts also had the next big chance, but Gregor Kobel parried a shot from Moussa Diaby well after a nice assist from Florian Wirtz (16′).
Although Julian Ryerson made some breakthroughs through Bayer’s strong right side with Jeremie Frimpong and Diaby, BVB Haller was not used for a long time. But even without touching the ball, the Ivorian then played an important role in the lead when a cross from ex-Leverkusen player Julian Brandt gave Adeyemi a pass.
A few things repeated themselves after the change: First, Diaby failed again at Kobel (48′), then Dortmund scored again after a cross from the right. This time all of Dortmund missed, but Tapsoba bounced the ball against the shin – and from there it flew into the goal unstoppable for Lukas Hradecky. Curious: BVB led 2-0, although the statistics only recorded one shot on goal.
After an hour, Haller left the field, but it wasn’t Moukoko who came, but Anthony Modeste. In the 70th minute, Frimpong prevented a second Tapsoba own goal when he knocked the ball off the line.
Dortmund played the victory safely home and now have to prove consistency if they really want to go up even further in the coming weeks. “We still have a few issues. Don’t make us bigger than we are,” coach Edin Terzic puts on the brakes on euphoria.
