Marco Reus demonstrated the head rejuvenation treatment for the first time in the summer. Dyed white blonde – like punk poser Billy Idol once did, the older people whispered, a touch too fashionable for a 34-year-old. But on this Saturday afternoon we remembered that hairstyles often want to say something. The extra cheer, the special loud celebration from the south stand after the game, will therefore have gone down more sweetly on Marco Reus than he has rarely done in his long years at Borussia Dortmund. Reus made it 1-0 in a Bundesliga game for the 62nd time, and this time the one goal was enough to win against VfL Wolfsburg.
It was the day of Reus from Dortmund, who was also the strongest player on the pitch against Wolfsburg, who had to fight for an extension of his contract for just one year before the season, whose salary was drastically reduced and who lost the captain’s armband because he had been made to understand that as a future bench warmer he could not be captain.
For Reus and many of his fans in black and yellow, the past few days must have been an inner march past: in Freiburg, on the previous match day, coming on as a late substitute, preparing a goal for a late 4-2 victory, scoring the winning goal himself. Came into the game late in the weak game in the Champions League in Paris and finally brought some life and excitement to Dortmund. And now, back in the BVB starting line-up, Reus with the goal of the day and also with the second most dangerous shot at the Wolfsburg goal, a free kick that the tall Koen Casteels flicked from the corner of the goal with the last stretch.
“We played calmly, even though we haven’t played together as a team before. We had control of the game for 90 minutes and were calm on the ball,” commented Reus after the final whistle. And when the Sky TV reporter confronted him with his coach Edin Terzic’s statement that BVB still needed time after the loss of Jude Bellingham and Raphael Guerreiro, a smile of satisfaction crossed the goalscorer’s face: “We don’t have time . If you play every three or four days, you don’t have time. We have to accept the duels now, then the playfulness will come naturally.” That was “okay” today in the game against Wolfsburg, Reus continued, “but that wasn’t our standard.”
Anyone who talks Reus into offside has to have a lot of trust in the rest of the staff
One could almost think that Reus had overtaken his coach in analytical power on the right. Or was someone breathing a sigh of relief because they no longer have to play the moderator role of team captain, which suits colleagues like Mats Hummels, who is also in top form, better? Now, without public office, Reus speaks like an elder statesman. And these days he is punishing all those who classified him as old news before the season. And that was more or less the entire BVB management team. Anyone who, after the losses of the two successful scorers Bellingham and Guerreiro, also maneuvers the dangerous Reus into the sidelines must have a lot of trust in the rest of the squad.
After the sobering experience of the 2-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain, Reus’ coach Terzic at least realized that things couldn’t continue like this. In addition to the injured Marcel Sabitzer, he ordered five more games from the Paris starting eleven to the bench, including team captain Emre Can and the two young national players Karim Adeyemi and Marius Wolf. In addition to Reus, Niclas Füllkrug made his starting eleven debut in Dortmund, and 19-year-old Jamie Bynoe-Gittens was also allowed to play. Neither of them managed much against Wolfsburg’s strong, massively defensive defense, and both faded against the concentrated game intelligence of Reus and Julian Brandt, who ultimately provided Reus with the pass for the winning goal. In return, the almost forgotten Salih Öczan collected points for further missions as a creative six.
Wolfsburg’s tactic of slowing down the pace almost worked
Sports director Sebastian Kehl was later able to happily summarize: “We were much more stable, played more dominantly. Things are going in the right direction. And what you shouldn’t forget: We are still unbeaten.” Given the better second half, a permissible comment. In fact, BVB is currently just two points behind rivals FC Bayern, although the mood in Dortmund seemed to be in the relegation zone until this Saturday. But one thing we learned from the day was that – as of now – more was expected from the arrivals of the summer, of whom Ramy Bensebaini and Felix Nmacha were still there this time.
Coach Terzic said afterwards: “We showed today that we can play clearly and calmly and what we’re capable of. It was our best game so far.” That was right, but for a long time Nico Kovac’s Wolfsburg team limited themselves to slowing down the game. Dortmund went along with this and ultimately successfully waited for the one careless moment that often destroys such defensive tactics late on. That’s what happened to Dortmund last Tuesday in Paris, and now to Wolfsburg this afternoon against Borussia.
However, if Reus hadn’t cleverly scored his 152nd Bundesliga goal, Wolfsburg’s delay could still have worked. Then some of Dortmund’s interim results would have read differently. But the fact of the evening remained: Marco Reus has now scored 116 goals for BVB, one more than BVB legend Lothar “Emma” Emmerich. Almost everything pales in comparison. At least in Dortmund.
