Actually, the first matchday of the Bundesliga’s second half of the season is not a suitable moment for initial assessments, but Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 win at 1. FC Cologne prompted sports director Sebastian Kehl to say a few basic words. Kehl said he was delighted that BVB scored “the maximum number of points and 7-0 goals” from the two games after the winter break. The former midfielder continued that he was “satisfied with the development,” but “the team is getting even stronger.”
The start of the year was successful, new signing Jadon Sancho played well again, and Ian Maatsen, the second new Dortmund player, was even brilliant. And yet Edin Terzic preferred not to rave about his team. “This was another important step, but we know that the road is still long,” he said.
Too often in the past, Dortmund have assumed that they are at a new stage in their development process and have been wrong in their assessment. And when it comes to BVB’s pure performances in the two games in 2024, some things are reminiscent of the first phase of the season in the summer, in which Terzic spread the theory that the unspectacular style was intentional. “Less sexy, more success” was the credo, but it quickly turned out to be a mirage. This is also why the first two games of the year, BVB won 3-0 in Darmstadt, do not allow any serious conclusions to be drawn about the strength and condition of the fickle team. But the results are correct.
Terzic: “We need a series”
“We need a series,” coach Edin Terzic said before kick-off, and two wins from two games can be seen as the start of one. However, BVB’s opponents Darmstadt and Cologne were currently the weakest teams in the league, which is another reason why the increased success should generally be viewed with caution. But like in Darmstadt, Dortmund were pretty efficient and led early. Donyell Malen finished successfully after a flat corner (12′), Linton Maina defended far too carelessly. Dortmund didn’t have much more to offer before the break on the difficult winter pitch.
Cologne had the ball a lot, and coach Timo Schultz’s new approach worked structurally. “But the Dortmund team was totally superior to us, especially in the core competency of ‘efficiency’,” said Schultz. The harmlessness of the Cologne team remains striking. Finally, the Rhinelanders also had to deal with the news that Davie Selke (foot) and Luca Waldschmidt (broken fibula) would be out for weeks.
The lack of offensive penetration then became apparent in all its dimensions when Jan Thielmann was able to finish from the best position in the first action after the break, hesitated a little too long and then shot at Gregor Kobel (46th). Cologne were also unlucky when Maina hit the post (51′), the game could have been overturned at this stage. Dortmund needed luck, also because they had to improvise defensively.
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Niklas Süle was unable to continue playing after half-time due to back problems, and because Emre Can and Mats Hummels were unable to play, young Hendry Blank from the Dortmund U23 made his first Bundesliga appearance. However, referee Daniel Schlager was more decisive for the further course of the game: after a minimal hold by Rasmus Carstensen and a theatrical fall by Sancho, the otherwise weak Niclas Füllkrug was given the chance to score a penalty goal and made it 0-2 (58th). By the time Malen scored Dortmund’s third goal (61′) after brilliant preparatory work from his Dutch compatriot Maatsen, it was clear who would win, before Youssoufa Moukoko made it 4-0 (90+2′).
