Nuri Sahin wore a tie for once. He felt like it, just like that, and if successful, a tie also has a suitable effect. “Four wins from five games,” said Borussia Dortmund’s smartly dressed coach late on Wednesday evening, “that’s something to be proud of.” However, his tie had already slipped a bit.
In the Champions League, Dortmund celebrated a party for the fourth time, this time: a 3-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb. As fourth place in the table of 36, BVB goes into the game against third-place FC Barcelona with the same points the week after next, then Borussia can take a big step towards the round of 16. If you take last season into account, Dortmund won seven of nine games in the Champions League and only lost twice against Real Madrid. BVB is who in the Champions League.
:Catch me if you can!
Florian Wirtz is taking the Champions League by storm – and Europe’s finest clubs are after him. But material considerations are not at all his priority.
The Bundesliga, on the other hand, continues to cause concern. Dortmund are only fifth in the table of 18 because they have already lost four of eleven games – and always exactly when they had previously played in the Champions League: 1:5 in Stuttgart, 1:2 in Berlin, 1:2 in Augsburg and 1:3 in Mainz. Every Champions League party was always followed by a Bundesliga hangover. And now the fifth international game is followed by the Saturday night top game against Bayern Munich. However, at home in the home stadium in front of 81,365 spectators! This is a crucial difference for BVB. He has played eight home games so far this season, six in the Bundesliga, two in the Champions League – and won all eight. “We will also win against Bayern,” predicts sports director Lars Ricken. “How could I contradict my boss?” said coach Sahin.
In the Bundesliga home table, Borussia is first with six wins – in the away table they are third from bottom with one point. Dortmund had lost six away games in a row in three competitions (four in the Bundesliga, one in the Cup and one in the Champions League) before traveling to Zagreb. They were prepared for bitter resistance from the Croatian champions and their coach Nenad Bjelica (previously Union Berlin). But Dinamo were content with 29 percent possession of the ball and let Dortmund have their way. Jamie Gittens (56th), Ramy Bensebaini (56th) and Serhou Guirassy (90th) scored the goals. In addition, Bensebaini (8th) and Donyell Malen (27th) hit the crossbar.
Dortmund lost their last home game in April – will the series against Bayern hold?
Gittens and Guirassy are among the ten top scorers of the current Champions League season with four goals each. From the Bundesliga, only Bayern’s Harry Kane and Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz are better with five goals each.
“We didn’t let anything go wrong,” said BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and praised a “great job by Schlotti and Waldi” – these are the central defenders Nico Schlotterbeck and Waldemar Anton. Anton was recently allowed to play twice because Emre Can saw red in the Bundesliga. Can was suspended in the 4-0 win against Freiburg, but now in Zagreb he sat on the bench throughout. He will be suspended for a second time against Bayern and after that it could be difficult for him if Schlotti and Waldi continue to do such a great job. Felix Nmecha is ahead in the central defensive midfield.
Schlotterbeck didn’t want to proclaim the end of Dortmund’s away curse in Zagreb on Wednesday night, he didn’t even want to think about it. Footballers prefer not to concern themselves with unpleasant statistics – otherwise bad thoughts will creep in. After a 4-0 win against Freiburg and this 3-0 win in Zagreb, Schlotterbeck was not entirely dissatisfied. But he also knows that the good feelings would be lost if he lost to Bayern. That’s why he emphasized: “If we win on Saturday, then I say it’s fine!”
The statistics could inspire BVB. The last home defeat was almost eight months ago: a 1-0 defeat against Stuttgart on April 6th. However, the most important man for Dortmund’s game design is now in danger of being unavailable against Bayern: Julian Brandt was substituted in Zagreb after the first half with muscular problems. “It will be tight on Saturday,” believes coach Sahin, “but he is almost irreplaceable for us.”
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