Schalke’s Marius Bülter (v.) scored himself and prepared a goal. Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham didn’t look good on either goal.
Photo: IMAGO / Team 2
It was an amazing sentence that slipped from the coach of FC Schalke 04, who were still threatened with relegation, after the 2-2 (0-1) win against Borussia Dortmund, after a draw that, at least in the table, was neither a liberation nor a decisive step towards staying up . And yet, after escaping the storm of euphoria that raged outside in the stands, Thomas Reis said: “We have to make sure that we keep our feet on the ground.” As if the biggest crisis club in the past three years was seriously threatening to come back to get into a state of high spirits. But anyone who witnessed this celebration of Royal Blue football energy during the 90 minutes could understand the coach’s admonition quite well. People cheered the tie like a big win, and the one point played only a minor role.
Traditionally, a derby like this isn’t just about being successful yourself. For many fans of BVB and FC Schalke, the feeling of having really hurt the opponent is always intoxicating. Now the battered Gelsenkircheners have stolen two points from their rivals on the way to the longed-for championship, points that may still be of decisive importance when it comes to the Bundesliga title. They were also able to celebrate goals again after five derbies in a row without their own goals and perhaps most importantly: The feeling of being competitive again, which was lost in autumn and January, is now seven games without defeat and a total of six goals in back in the last three games. “We’re back, we’re close, it’s open again,” said goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann.
A team that can be sure of the love of their fans is currently playing in the jerseys of the royal blue district club, and that is traditionally of immense importance in this duel with BVB. The Dortmunders had feared exactly this love, which was expressed in the stadium through a beguiling mixture of singing, shouting and cheering. In every interview and presumably also in his speech to the team, coach Edin Terzić had called for a cool head to play out one’s own footballing superiority instead of getting involved in Schalke’s emotional one-on-one football.
Above all, it worked well in the first half, BVB had led through a goal from Nico Schlotterbeck (38th) and had a number of other well-played opportunities. The interim 1: 2 by Raphaël Guerreiro was a small piece of football art (60th), but, said Schalke goalkeeper ferryman: “We fought with our weapons, put up a real fight.” Such teams are for BVB even after the upswing a problem in the first weeks of the year, with the ongoing series of nine Bundesliga games without defeat.
Once again, these small negligence accumulated, which a footballingly superior team can only allow themselves if they are clearly in the lead or play offensively so efficiently that even a few goals against cost no points. On that day it was probably the best Dortmund player of the season so far, who allowed himself two such moments that FC Schalke brutally punished: Jude Bellingham. Before Marius Bülter made it 1-1, he lost the ball during a too risky individual action in the center line, which initiated the Schalke counterattack (50th). And before the 2:2 he gave Bülter far too much space and time to cross to Kenan Karaman, who headed the celebrated equalizer (79th). “We have to learn from that if we want to achieve our goals,” said Terzić, but it’s unclear how great the Dortmund team’s ability to develop really is.
Because BVB only had this well-known problem under control in the phase when almost all players were healthy and available, when the competition in training was fierce. That time is over now, and after eight wins in a row there had to come a moment when a few points were lost again. Especially since Dortmund continue to play without a reliable goalscorer; Sébastien Haller works hard but is completely ineffective in front of the opponent’s goal. The big question is whether Dortmund have really been able to take the hoped-for development step over the past few weeks. Or whether, now that several players are injured, they will become that character-difficult team again, which is better than many opponents in terms of football, but still loses points because they cannot find the right attitude for the upcoming game. The home game against Cologne next Saturday will provide the first answers.
