With the seventh win in the seventh league game in 2023, Borussia Dortmund took the lead in the Bundesliga for at least 26 hours. Coach Edin Terzic’s team earned a deserved 1-0 (1-0) win at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, a candidate for relegation on Saturday.
In front of 30,150 spectators in the sold-out Sinsheim stadium – including national coach Hansi Flick – national player Julian Brandt (43rd minute) scored the goal of the day. This puts BVB three points ahead of the title rivals before the top game on Sunday (5.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN) between FC Bayern Munich and Union Berlin.
At the crisis club from Kraichgau, the new coach Pellegrino Matarazzo had to accept his third defeat in a row since taking office, even if his team showed a lot of improvement. Hoffenheim thus matched the club record of twelve games without a win from 2008/2009, when TSG under Ralf Rangnick fell from first place in their debut season in the upper house and slipped down to 16th relegation place.
Underdog starts well
BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl had refused a title announcement in view of Dortmund’s high flight before the kick-off – “because we know where we come from,” he said in the Sky interview. “When the time comes, we will also deal with the topic. But it’s still too early.”
BVB went into the game with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens replacing the injured young star Karim Adeyemi. After less than four minutes, TSG goalkeeper Oliver Baumann had to defuse the 18-year-old’s first dangerous shot. Former Dortmund player Thomas Delaney was only on the bench for Hoffenheim after a flu infection. The underdog got into the game much better than at home in the 3-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen and even dared to go forward again and again, mostly driven by Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner.
Strange free kick goal
After less than half an hour, Matarazzo had to replace the ailing Ozan Kabak in defense with Ermin Bicakcic. Dortmund probably saw that as a signal to put more pressure on: Baumann prevented Haller from going behind twice. It had not been obvious before that the best league team to date played in 2023 with the worst.
Shortly before the break, however, the guests took the lead with a curious free-kick goal: Brandt extended Marco Reus’ sharply kicked ball into the net with his back – his eighth goal of the season and the fourth in four games in a row.
Shortly thereafter, Marius Wolf had a clear shot and should have made it 2-0. After the change, Hoffenheim briefly hoped for a penalty: Emre Can had touched Kevin Akpoguma on the edge of the penalty area and referee Martin Petersen watched the scene again on the video screen, but then gave the dropped ball.
Shortly thereafter, Petersen took back a goal from Wolf (56th) in another VAR decision: Nico Schlotterbeck had previously stepped on Ihlas Bebou’s foot. After this turbulent start to the second half, Hoffenheim also played along eagerly, but missed chances from Kramaric and Baumgartner.
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