Borussia Dortmund: First results football, then etiquette lessons

EIn a few days before Christmas Eve one could have expected less roughness. But as it is with the run-up to Christmas: before the great silence sets in, things often get hectic. So, for example, with a nagging Karim Adeyemi, with bloody socks like old times, unpunished fouls in the penalty area and in the end with a 2-0 for Borussia Dortmund against Borussia from Mönchengladbach, which BVB captain Emre Can aptly marked after the final whistle as a “work victory” that “we had to work hard for”.

In any case, after just a few minutes of the Borussia duel, there was hardly anything left of the gingerbread harmony that had spread before the game by singing Dortmund’s unofficial club anthem “Light up, my star Borussia”. The hard work, which Can later reported as if he had just left an underground mine, began at kick-off. The fact that, according to legend, the “Leuchte auf” song was written on an English slave ship in distress, which was then miraculously rescued, fit the current style of play of both Borussia that evening.

In the end, BVB became more contemplative again; Julian Brandt at least reported the satisfaction of “finally leaving the pitch with the good feeling of a win at the end of the year”. This was also because the first rough act of the evening, a conspicuous knocking down of Gladbach’s Philipp Sander by Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy, ​​went unpunished by referee Sven Jablonski. A perfectly struck cross from the returnee Niklas Süle sailed over the heads of all Gladbachers and to the feet of Brandt, who scored the opening goal with a technically perfect shot – it was already his fourth goal in the third home game in a row. If Jablonski or VAR referee Günter Perl had blown the whistle for Guirassy’s clear foul, the game might have taken a different course.

Gladbach’s coach Eugen Polanski, whose idea of ​​football is largely similar to that of his Dortmund colleague Niko Kovac, complained about exactly that: “There wasn’t a possible penalty decision against us later. But it makes a difference whether it happens in the tenth minute or ten minutes before the end.” Polanski, addressed what has been an elephant in the room in Dortmund for weeks. Both Borussia players rely on defensive clarity and enormous fighting verve, but both rarely have chances to score. A single impact can therefore make the difference.

“It feels better,” Dortmund’s Julian Brandt later summarized, “that this time we didn’t concede a goal in the final minutes, but scored ourselves in stoppage time.” In fact, substitute Maximilian Beier only managed to make it 2-0 on a counterattack in the sixth minute of stoppage time, which pushed Dortmund, at least temporarily, into second place in the table, ahead of Leipzig and behind the hastening Munich team. Between Brandt’s 1-0 and this final point, there were countless bad passes and tough ball conquests on both sides. People were already looking forward to half-scoring chances, like the one from the strong Florian Neuhaus, whose attempted shot was blocked by Emre Can. The Dortmund player sustained a bleeding wound on his shin.

In the end, despite all the will to resist and all the defensive stability that Polanski had given his selection in a remarkably short time, Gladbach lacked the final move towards the opponent’s goal. Maybe also because of the absence of national striker Tim Kleindienst, who is still injured. On the other hand, the development of the game wasn’t far off, at least based on BVB’s position in the table and salary structure. Center forward Guirassy has only scored once in the last eleven games, and his yield during this period is only slightly higher than that of the permanently injured Kleindienst.

Karim Adeyemi curses and swears – and has to expect a fine

The game lived from the commitment, from the explosiveness, from the tension of the tight score. Referee Jablonski could have interpreted the duel between Nico Elvedi and Maximilian Beier mentioned by Polanski as a penalty for Dortmund, but he also let this scene play out. Beier later had a huge chance to score on another counterattack alone in front of Gladbach’s goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas; Gladbach’s 16-year-old Wael Mohya forced Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel into a brilliant act with a hard-hitting shot – and that was it for offensive highlights on both sides.

Shortly after the break, Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi became so angry about his own performance and his team’s other footballing misfires that he couldn’t stop complaining and insulting opponents and referees. When his coach Niko Kovac replaced him, Adeyemi hit a drinking bottle onto the grass in a nice trajectory. When he then wanted to trudge into the dressing room armed with his warm jacket, BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl stood in the way: “You don’t go into the dressing room, you sit here on the bench,” Kehl is said to have told the angry man. Adeyemi then continued to curse to himself on the bench.

“We don’t want to see anything like that anymore,” assured Kehl after the game, “Karim will also get a fine for it.” Result football, plus etiquette lessons: That has to last until Christmas in Dortmund.