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Borussia Dortmund in first place after beating Hoffenheim

EIt was close, it was hard-fought, it was dramatic – but in the end Borussia Dortmund won this game on Saturday, as always after the winter break, and passed the test at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, who finally woke up again after a few weeks.

The seventh Bundesliga victory in a row, a 1-0 win at the new sixteenth place in the table, lifted BVB to first place in the table at least overnight. Good prospects for what is to come? The once again outstanding goalkeeper Gregor Kobel confessed to the highest perspective. “Of course we’re playing for the championship, that’s clear,” said BVB number 1 after a passionate match in the Sinsheim Arena, which was sold out with 30,150 spectators.

Coach Edin Terzic didn’t want to “forbid anyone from dreaming” either, but from the football coach’s point of view insisted that “only the view through analytical glasses” would help him and his team. His Hoffenheim colleague Pellegrino Matarazzo found his team’s strong performance, especially after the break, an encouragement. “Something is developing,” he emphasized, “a certain energy, cohesion, a bond that will also do us good in the future.”

Julian Brandt unconventional

Nevertheless: Nothing happened on the back of BVB in this rather unequal duel before the break. And so it was not untypical that a Dortmunder scored the only goal before the break with his back.

Julian Brandt, an outstanding midfielder with an insatiable urge to attack for weeks, took on a free kick from Marco Reus in an unconventional way shortly before the break and extended the ball past the previously insurmountable goalkeeper Oliver Baumann to give Westphalia a deserved lead (43rd minute). At the same time, it meant complete success for the Westphalians, Brandt, the best outfield player in his team, was willing to admit “that we took a bit of a hit on luck”.


Somehow the ball flies over the line: Borussia Dortmund wins thanks to Julian Brandt’s goal.
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Image: EPA

Not so before the break, when Borussia had still determined the game against the unexpected relegation candidate. If goalkeeper Baumann hadn’t been so brilliantly on the post, Dortmund’s half-time lead would have been clearer. However, the TSG captain parried Bynoe-Gittens’ shot (4′), Haller’s turning shot (41′) and Schlotterbeck’s attempt from a corner kick (42′).

Clear shot ratio

On the other side, only one scene seemed dangerous at first, when Baumgartner’s shot was quickly blocked by Kobel and Kabak then headed over the goal (16′). The superiority of BVB, who advanced to the top of the table at least on Saturday, in the first half was reflected in the ratio of shots on goal: 16 Dortmund attempts were matched by just two by TSG.

After the break, two decisions made by the Stuttgart referee Petersen caused a stir because he corrected himself twice with the help of the video assistant. First, Petersen took back a free kick for Hoffenheim on the edge of the Dortmund penalty area, although the duel between Dortmund’s Can and Akpoguma was checked for penalties.

In the end, however, Petersen saw no more foul play and courageously and correctly decided on the referee ball (52nd). A little later, Wolf shot the supposed 2-0 for BVB, and VAR Daniel Schlager reported again and referred to a foul by Dortmund’s Schlotterbeck on Bebou in the emergence of the scene in question. Petersen (56th) rightly agreed with this view.

The Dortmund game crumbled a bit under the impression of these moments, Hoffenheim, on the other hand, created a number of opportunities in this fight, which was well worth seeing over long stretches, which the Dortmund keeper Kobel repeatedly got in the way of. In the end, BVB was close to a second goal again, especially when Bellingham shot the post (90+3). In any case, the audience experienced a back and forth worth seeing at a high level of play and fighting. The fact that BVB won again in the end was the right result of a duel from which both teams could draw plenty of optimism for the next tests.

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