Borussia Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl gave special praise to the new signings Jadon Sancho and Ian Maatsen after their successful debut. “Jadon is Jadon. We know what qualities he has,” said the 43-year-old after BVB’s 3-0 win in Saturday night’s Bundesliga game at SV Darmstadt 98. “I think you could see today that he was really looking forward to it “To be back on the pitch and basically enjoyed every action.”
The 23-year-old Sancho, who moved from BVB to Manchester United in 2021 for a fee of 85 million euros and was loaned from Dortmund last week, came on as a substitute in the 55th minute and added the goal to his friend Reus 22 minutes later to make it 2 :0 exemplary. “Playing with Marco is a dream,” said Kehl.
Coach Edin Terzic wants to “carefully build up” Sancho, who is going through a difficult time at Manchester United and last played a competitive game in August. Sancho is “one of those players in the world who play football better when they smile. We want to use this euphoria that he brings with him,” said Terzic.
Reus, who like Sancho came on as a substitute in the 55th minute, was also visibly happy about the return of his friend, who had not had any match practice in the past few months. “He is simply a difference player who is good for a scorer in every game because he simply has the positioning to turn a disadvantage into an advantage,” said the offensive veteran. “I really enjoy playing with him and I’m very pleased that he has found his way back.”
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Chelsea professional Ian Maatsen played at the Böllenfalltor from the start. “He was very, very calm,” said Kehl about the left-back. “There was no sense of nervousness, he did very, very well. He’s fully fit and has had playing time in the last few weeks.”
Borussia’s promised comeback might have been halted if goalkeeper Gregor Knobel hadn’t ruined Luca Pfeiffer’s huge header chance after a good hour. Julian Brandt had previously scored in front of 17,810 spectators at the sold-out Böllenfalltor (24th minute). Youssoufa Moukoko (90+2) increased the score to 3-0 in added time.
It wasn’t just Sancho’s performance that glossed over some of BVB’s weak phases in the analysis in front of 17,810 spectators at the sold-out Böllenfalltor. “Before the basic performance, it was a very disjointed and chaotic game. It’s a nice result for us,” admitted Brandt.
