DThe mood hadn’t improved much compared to the previous evening. When Dortmund’s Borussia boarded the charter flight home from Stansted Airport on Wednesday, the frustration at being eliminated from the Champions League was still great. However, the emotional state is also diffuse. On the one hand there is the frustration because of the unconvincing own performance in the 0:2 (0:1) defeat in the second leg of the second round of the Champions League at Chelsea. On the other hand, there is anger at a Dutchman named Danny Makkelie.
For part of the Dortmund travel delegation, the referee was almost solely responsible for the end of BVB’s international season. “It was the referee’s fault today. How can you give the second penalty in such a situation? How does it work? I just don’t understand it,” Emre Can complained in an interview with Amazon Prime. And anyway: Makkelie was “arrogant the whole game”, according to the midfielder. It was impossible to talk to him.
Necessary to speak: Dortmund’s players surround referee Danny Makkelie
Source: dpa/David Indian song
There was plenty to talk about. Because Makkelie’s decisions actually had an impact on the outcome of the game. That is indisputable. Shortly after the restart, he recognized a hand penalty – after Marius Wolf received a cross ball from Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell on the forearm. “It wasn’t on purpose, I’m not going to the ball. I’m even turning away,” said Wolf. The referee, who had a good view of the scene, apparently had this impression at first. But then he was contacted by the video referee (VAR). Makkelie looked at the scene again – and now recognized a penalty. This was quite questionable, since according to the rule, the VAR can only intervene in the event of clearly wrong decisions.
“I don’t give a shit who ran in before,” says Can
The real scandal, from Dortmund’s point of view, happened afterwards. Chelsea’s German international Kai Havertz hit the ball against the post. However, because numerous players ran into the penalty area too early, Makkelie had it repeated – this time Havertz scored to make it 2-0 (53rd minute). Although the process was unusual, it was in accordance with the rules. However, Can did not want to accept that. “I don’t give a shit who ran in before. Havertz hits the post, that’s it, that’s it,” he exclaimed.
The defensive player received support from Matthias Sammer, who could not be calmed down at all after the final whistle. “The penalty and its repetition, that’s a real scandal,” rumbled the adviser to BVB Managing Director Hans-Joachim Watzke, completely denying Makkelie’s character suitability. “In such a constellation – and I don’t have to come to any guardians of the rules now – there is personality. But Makkelie is a very, very arrogant person. And as a referee you also have a certain charisma and modesty,” said Sammer. In his anger, he almost awakened memories of the 1990s, when, as an extremely spirited player, he regularly overshot the mark verbally.
The anger of Dortmund, who had won the first leg 1-0, was partly a quarrel with themselves. Even Sammer had to admit that. BVB was “deservedly eliminated from the Champions League if you look at both games,” he admitted. With that – and this is the clearly bitter realization – he hit the spot. Because on Tuesday it became clear that Edin Terzic’s team is still a long way from being at the top of Europe. Borussia lacked determination against the tenth-placed team in the Premier League – and no referee, no matter how bad, can be held responsible for that.
That in turn dawned on at least a part of Dortmund. By no means all Borussia took part in making Makkelie a scapegoat. “I haven’t talked about the referee in the last few months, I’m not going to start now,” said Terzic. Central defender Nico Schlotterbeck saw it similarly. “I don’t want to talk about it that much. It’s just the way it is. We just had to score a goal or two more and we wouldn’t have these problems at all,” he explained. Instead, the national player focused on his own deficits. “We were just too passive in the first half. We could still be relatively happy with the 0:1 at the break,” he explained.
Hardly any pressure, no penetration
In fact, BVB had only appeared through one dangerous action until then – a free kick from Marco Reus, which Chelsea keeper Kepa was just able to steer to a corner. From the game there was no chance in the first round and only a little more in the second half. Only Jude Bellingham had a great chance to score – but missed too quickly (58′). It just didn’t have the punch,” stated Schlotterbeck. That was particularly annoying because “more could have been done” against the mentally ailing Chelsea.
One of the few dangerous Dortmund actions: Marco Reus’ free kick
What: AFP/GLYN KIRK
The self-critical approach is much more effective with regard to the further development of BVB. In contrast to the previous year, the team also made a leap internationally. In 2021/22 the Champions League was already over in the preliminary round, where there had been some embarrassing performances against Ajax Amsterdam and Sporting Lisbon. The intermediate round in the Europa League against Glasgow Rangers was then almost given away – which was a major reason why the club parted ways with coach Marco Rose at the end of the season.
Under Terzic, the team has developed a new level of stability over the past few months. The defeat was the first after ten competitive wins in a row. Nevertheless, she made it clear: Dortmund will only be able to achieve great goals if they can compensate for their natural deficits in terms of squad quality with courage and commitment – be it at the top international level or in a possible title fight with Bayern. When Karim Adeyemi, the match winner from the first leg, is injured and Julian Brandt, the difference player of the past few weeks, has to be substituted after just five minutes due to a muscle injury, things will get tight. This can only be intercepted if other players then act with similar courage – and that was not the case in London.
Due to the end of the Champions League, Dortmund, who had recently been spoiled by success, received a damper. Following the 2-1 win over RB Leipzig that put BVB top of the Bundesliga table, the defeat at Stamford Bridge was the second game in a week Terzic described as the “most important of the season”. The third is on Saturday: Then it’s off to Schalke. “I hope that we will play a better game there and beat Schalke,” said Schlotterbeck. A victory at the archrival would be extremely important for your own self-image and further development.
