Bundesliga Frustrating stadium anniversary: BVB back in alarm mode
The Dortmund players were frustrated after the defeat against VfB Stuttgart. photo
© Bernd Thissen/dpa
The Munich coup was followed by a defeat against Stuttgart. At BVB the fear of failure in the Champions League qualification is back. There isn’t much time left to deal with frustration.
The celebratory mood for the 50th anniversary of the home stadium was thoroughly spoiled. Only the Stuttgart party crashers had every reason to be happy after the final whistle.
While they were exuberantly celebrating the 1-0 (0-0) victory in Dortmund with their fans, which coach Sebastian Hoeneß described as a “big win”, the BVB professionals were already sitting in the dressing room and mourning the missed opportunity to take a big step Towards the Champions League. Captain Emre Can made no secret of his disappointment: “This is a bitter setback. We wanted to get within one point of Stuttgart, but now we are seven points behind.”
The impressive choreography for the stadium anniversary, which was reminiscent of the club’s history with BVB legends like Jürgen Klopp, did not help Borussia achieve their hoped-for sixth competitive win in a row. Just a week after the statement victory at FC Bayern (2-0), disillusionment returned. The fall to fifth place behind the Leipzig team with the same points increased concerns about a season without a European premier class.
Overcoming frustration in Madrid?
“It’s a disappointing feeling. But we don’t have long to be disappointed because the next important task awaits on Wednesday,” said coach Edin Terzic, full of hope that his professionals will quickly overcome their frustration before the first quarter-final duel in the Champions League Atletico Madrid.
The fact that Nico Schlotterbeck missed the mega chance to equalize in the 80th minute and hit the ball over the VfB goal from three meters in a follow-up shot increased the pain. It suited the mood that the Dortmund defender reacted irritably to the question about the huge miss in the Sky interview: “That’s actually a stupid question,” complained the 24-year-old and speculated that his counterpart had never played football before. “I know I have to do it.”
Despite all the disappointment about the result, there was no question of a demoralizing defeat. At least the team was greeted with applause by the fans in the south stand. “We showed a significantly different face today than in the other games against Stuttgart,” said football teacher Terzic, looking at his significantly improved performance compared to the first leg (1:2) and the cup duel (0:2). team against the Swabians.
Ice cold Guirassy
In the showdown between the neighbors in the table, who were actually equal this time, the goalscorer made the difference. While the Dortmund offensive around the once again ineffective national striker Niclas Füllkrug tried in vain to score a goal and missed even the best chances, Serhou Guirassy struck ice cold (64th minute) and equalized Mario Gomez’s previous VfB record with his 24th goal of the season 2008/09 season.
This means that the three-point lead over the pursuers Leipzig, who Borussia will face on matchday 31, was gone: “Of course we see the table. But we know that we still have everything in our own hands and are starting very positively the next tasks,” said Terzic. “If we manage to repeat today’s performance in the next games, we will achieve our goals.”
Similar to the coach, sports director Sebastian Kehl did not see the performance against Stuttgart as a bad omen for the trip to Madrid. “After the win in Munich and the last few weeks, we had a lot of desire to win the game. But unfortunately we missed the goal today. We want to do that on Wednesday.”
dpa
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