Borussia Dortmund is on the road to victory twice in the derby against Schalke 04. But the Royal Blues fight back and get an important point. In the end, a Schalke substitute even missed the chance of winning.
AIronically, in the 100th Bundesliga derby at arch-rivals FC Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund suffered a potentially decisive setback in the championship fight against FC Bayern. Despite clear superiority and a two-time lead, Dortmund’s winning streak broke after eight league successes in a row at 2-2 (1-0) in Gelsenkirchen. Dortmund is now two points behind Bayern and the significantly worse goal difference, in the game after next they have to meet in Munich for the summit meeting. It was the frustrating end to an emotional and disappointing week. Four days earlier, Borussia had lost 2-0 at Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League.
“Today there was a heated, great atmosphere here on both sides. We had everything under control in the first half. We have to play the game in the second half, but then it’s suddenly 2-2 and Schalke celebrate it like a win,” Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck analyzed after the game on Sky TV.
The national defender (37th) and Raphael Guerreiro (60th) gave Dortmund the lead twice. But Marius Bülter with the first Schalke derby goal in almost four years (50th) and Kenan Karaman with his first competitive goal for Schalke (79th) equalized twice. Curious: Schlotterbeck’s goal came at 7:09 p.m., BVB was founded in 1909. Schalke, who were unbeaten like BVB in the second half of the season, gave up last place to 1899 Hoffenheim, but TSG could overtake them again with a point on Sunday in Freiburg.
After some arguments between the fans of both camps, it remained largely quiet around the game, at least in the run-up to the first findings. However, a photographer was hit by a Bengali torch from the guest block and filed a complaint.
BVB with Hummels
Both teams have been pressured by previous results. To counter Bayern’s 5-3 win over Augsburg, BVB coach Edin Terzic brought in Hummels, who had only started in two of the previous ten games, a real lucky derby charm. But it was certainly not a dream eleven that Terzic could muster. Youssoufa Moukoko, Karim Adeyemi and Julian Brandt were absent anyway, and neither did captain Marco Reus and first-choice goalkeeper Gregor Kobel get fit in time.
The fans of both camps tuned in with a veritable pyro show. While blue smoke rose from the north curve of Schalke, it was glowing red in the Dortmund corner. How the game shares would be distributed was meanwhile quickly apparent. Schalke were compact and deep. Dortmund, with Jude Bellingham, who was very offensive this time, and Guerreiro in the center, ran up and looked for gaps.
Nico Schlotterbeck gave Dortmund the lead in the derby
Source: AP/Martin Meissner
They found the first in the 18th minute, when Guerreiro ran towards Ralf Fährmann after a nice pass from Hummels, but didn’t put the ball sharply or well on target. Schalke were lurking on the counterattack with Michael Frey working immensely and almost got the lead as a gift when Schlotterbeck shot Hummels and Rodrigo Zalazar picked up the ball and headed for goal alone. But the Uruguayan missed too quickly (25′).
Schalke would soon mourn the chance because only BVB played from then on. And while Fährmann made good saves against Donyell Malen (30′) and Marius Wolf (37′), he had no chance against Schlotterbeck’s shot from 18 meters. Maya Yoshida did not pick up the international and let it finish unhindered from a central position. BVB now seemed to have the game firmly under control, but a little surprisingly, Schalke equalized right after the break through Bülter after a cross from Frey. Guerreiro’s 2-1 seemed like a real blow to the neck, but Schalke struck back again through Karaman, who had come on eleven minutes earlier.
