Borussia Dortmund is well recovered from the Champions League defeat in Tottenham and celebrates a clear away win at 1. FC Union. The team heeds what the coach asked of them.
Borussia Dortmund took advantage of Bayern’s surprising Bundesliga mistake and at least somewhat reduced the gap to the league leaders. Four days after the Champions League defeat at Tottenham, BVB won 3-0 (1-0) at 1. FC Union Berlin and is now eight points behind Munich in second place. Unlike in London, the Dortmund team in Berlin-Köpenick showed a fighting performance right from the start in sub-zero temperatures, even if there was room for improvement in terms of play.
In front of 22,012 fans, BVB captain Emre Can took the lead with a penalty kick (10th minute). Ex-Union player Nico Schlotterbeck (53′) increased the score to 2-0 after the break. Maximilian Beier (84th) made the final score. The Ruhr area club has now been unbeaten in twelve league games. However, coach Niko Kovac recently declared the title chances against Bayern, who suffered their first defeat of the season in the league with a 2-1 defeat against FC Augsburg, to be minimal.
Now Schlotterbeck said: “Of course, Bayern are almost unbeatable at the moment. Now today they’ve done maybe a centimeter less than usual. We’ve gained three points, that’s good. I just don’t want it to be decided in March. It’s a matter of sticking with it as long as possible.”
The bloodless performance in London on Tuesday, particularly in the first half, revived the mentality debate at BVB that actually seemed to have been shelved under Kovac. The 54-year-old demanded that his team demonstrate the basic virtues such as willingness to run and toughness in duels in Berlin. “Only then comes football,” said Kovac. The Dortmund team adopted the fighting game expected from Kovac without shining in terms of play.
Rönnow foult Guirassy – Elfmeter
The home team had the first chance. After a free kick, Union striker Andrej Ilic got to the ball from close range, but was unable to put BVB keeper Gregor Kobel in trouble with his header (6th). Shortly afterwards, Serhou Guirassy, who had managed to get through with a bit of luck, had the ball in the penalty area just in front of Union goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow and was brought down by the Dane. Can transformed.
As usual, Union was particularly dangerous with set pieces, which BVB often caused. Diogo Leite failed with a header from a corner (28′). BVB struck after the break with a dead ball: After a corner from Julian Ryerson, Schlotterbeck headed the ball into the goal. After that, Dortmund limited themselves primarily to defending their own goal. Union didn’t come up with much creative offensively. After Beier’s goal to make it 3-0, the game was decided.
dpa/SUF
