Bundesliga: Thanks to Tabakovic: Gladbach celebrates staying in the league early

Game starts late

Due to traffic jams around the stadium and the associated problems with Dortmund’s arrival, the game began ten minutes late in front of 54,042 spectators in the sold-out Borussia Park. “The preparation is a bit disrupted, but that shouldn’t be an excuse,” said BVB coach Niko Kovac on DAZN. Undeterred by this, both teams met on equal terms in the early stages; clear scenes in the penalty area initially remained rare.

After 20 minutes, the increasingly courageous hosts recorded their first goal. But Gregor Kobel easily parried Joe Scally’s shot from the edge of the penalty area. Shortly afterwards, the ball landed in the net behind the keeper after a free kick, but goal scorer Nico Elvedi was offside.

Gladbach more active, BVB disappointed

“Nobody should accuse us of having perhaps already slowed down a gear here,” Kovac emphasized before the game after his team had already secured Champions League qualification the previous week. For the time being, only Kobel was able to stand out again for Dortmund, who prevented Gladbach from taking the lead from close range after a shot by Tabakovic (32nd minute).

Shortly before the break, Gladbach came close to taking the lead again: Yannik Engelhardt rose higher than Jobe Bellingham after a corner from Franck Honorat and headed the ball just wide of the right post. It wasn’t until stoppage time in the first half that Dortmund recorded their first shot on goal of the game after a cross from Julian Ryerson. But a more than harmless finish from Samuele Inacio landed safely in the arms of Moritz Nicolas.

Few chances in the second half

After an uneventful first half, Gladbach came out of the locker room more energetic. Tabakovic sent a cross just past the goal to the left (48th). The game then noticeably flattened out. Dortmund temporarily shifted the game to Gladbach’s half, but remained without any real threat to score. Marcel Sabitzer shot a free kick from around 20 meters to the left (76th), before Salih Özcan put the ball over the goal three minutes later.