BVB is there when Bayern make a mistake
Hate figure Marco Reus dismantles Union Berlin
By Stephan Uersfeld, Berlin
02/13/2022, 7:58 p.m
It’s crashing at Borussia Dortmund – the transfer of Niklas Süle can’t hide that either. Everything is questioned: the coach, the captain, the squad and the meaning of existence. The game against Union Berlin is groundbreaking. BVB wins confidently. Towering over Marco Reus. Is everything ok now?
The horrors of the previous week hovered over Borussia Dortmund as they ran onto the field on this beautiful spring Sunday at the Alte Försterei in Berlin-Köpenick. After the 2:5 against Bayer Leverkusen and the loss of the German championship, there was another crash in Dortmund. The humiliation in their own stadium was such a blow that even sowed doubts about the status of favorites in the game at Union Berlin. Borussia’s reaction was all the more surprising. With a convincing 3-0 (2-0) BVB reported back to life – and after Bayern’s desolate performance in Bochum even a little bit back in the championship fight.
“It’s very good,” said two-time goalscorer Marco Reus after the game on DAZN. He looked straight into the angered faces of the Union fans who had lined up at the gang just a few meters away from him. They called him a “bum” and raged for minutes against the Dortmund captain, whom they did not forgive for a penalty situation from April last year. But Reus stayed cool and was much happier about Dortmund’s first victory in the Alte Försterei on the third attempt. “We wanted to take on this fight. We haven’t done that too often here in recent years,” he said, while the stadium then poured out hatred for him.
During the week, the mood in Dortmund was down. Although the Niklas Süle coup could at least play a little calm in the club, internally the performance in the 2: 5 against Bayer Leverkusen was anything but done. Then it crashed hard. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” did not spare criticism of coach Marco Rose, who has not been able to adapt his idea of ideal football to the squad so far this season.
The chief scout on the way to Berlin
The insistence on high pressure, the lack of protection in defensive midfield is a reason for the countless goals conceded this season. During the week, the name of Robert Andrich, who left the Alte Försterei last summer for Leverkusen instead of Dortmund, kept coming up. Meanwhile, aging stars Mats Hummels and Marco Reus have been questioned in local media. Discrepancies in the squad had been heard from time to time before. From various players who expressed doubts about the leaders of the team. Who were bothered by the fact that words were rarely followed by deeds. So unrest. Which could hardly be swept under the carpet after a swatter like against Leverkusen.
The news that the second in the table could lose an important employee in the summer with chief scout Markus Pilawa certainly did not brighten the mood. Pilawa and Hertha BSC met as part of a future workshop last October. The 44-year-old is the favorite to succeed sporting director Arne Friedrich. In Dortmund, preparations are being made for the scout’s farewell. It is still unclear whether and how Pilawa could be replaced. Pilawa had hopes in Dortmund to replace Michael Zorc. As is well known, he will stop in the summer and will be replaced by former BVB captain Sebastian Kehl, and not by the current chief scout. In Dortmund they still think big about Pilawa, but with a view to the BVB transfer balance in recent years there are also doubts.
And then there was Erling Haaland, who is still not back on the pitch but continues to cause unrest from the outside. Maybe not even because he wants to, but rather because departures of that nature always cause trouble. In Berlin, it was once again about the future of this always manic-depressive Ruhrpott giant.
Reus soon record goalscorer
All the more astonishing, then, with what ease Dortmund was able to shake off the restless previous week in Berlin. Little had occurred to them during the two previous appearances in the Alte Försterei. Two defeats and five goals conceded before this Sunday. There was little to suggest that BVB would succeed in their first Bundesliga win at Union Berlin. After the failures of Thomas Meunier and Marius Wolf, Rose was without a right-back. In the absence of alternatives, England rumored centre-back Manuel Akanji was the alternative on the wing. Gio Reyna also had to pass, the Belgian Thorgan Hazard had even been removed from the squad for performance reasons. On the other hand, Union coach Urs Fischer had to change five times compared to the 0: 2 in Augsburg because of several corona cases.
But the most important Union player was not due to a Corona case, but due to his move to VfL Wolfsburg. The departure of the free spirit Max Kruse hurts the iron visibly. A successor was quickly presented in the form of Sven Michel, but the ex-Paderborner cannot replace the “gambler” Kruse. Union lacked his creativity and moments of surprise at every turn and so it was Marco Reus, who was whistled at by the 10,000 fans in the Alte Försterei well before the game, who shaped the game.
The Dortmund number 11 turned up the heat, directed his team’s offensive movements and scored twice. They were his competitive goals 150 and 151 for BVB, he is now only eight short of record goalscorer Manfred Burgsmüller and seven for Michael Zorc, one of his predecessors as captain, and like Reus a native of Dortmund. The criticized national player continues to work on his legend status. Which of course doesn’t help the club much in the current situation. But “Mister 1:0” scored. First, in the 18th minute, to 1-0, and then seven minutes later to 2-0. Then Reus was suddenly “Mister 2:0” For the first time this season he managed a brace.
Borussia had identified Union’s right-hand side of defense as a weak point and, driven by the busy but weak Donyell Malen, attacked again and again on their own left-hand side and thus found the holes in Union’s defence. Reus visibly enjoyed the Berlin audience, signaled to them after his second goal that he had heard the whistles.
What is important for Reus now
The hosts had little to oppose the Dortmund game, although they came out of the break more energetically and with an interest in scoring their own goal, but were never able to put themselves in the limelight. BVB acted in a controlled manner, didn’t want to use every counterattack, preferred to avoid losing the ball and didn’t give the Köpenickers the chance to overturn the Dortmund defense with long balls.
Instead, BVB scored a third goal through Guerreiro. Union’s prompt response, Kevin Möhwald’s 1:3 from Berlin’s perspective, was withdrawn by the otherwise good referee Matthias Jöllenbeck after examining the video images due to a foul play. A controversial decision, which was greeted with “slider, slider” from the stands. It remained 3-0 for Borussia Dortmund and a surprising realization.
Twice this season, Bayern had gone bankrupt on one match day and BVB had been able to exploit the mistake twice. Bayern’s defeat in Augsburg was followed by Dortmund’s 2-1 win against Stuttgart and the record champions’ 2-1 defeat against Borussia Mönchengladbach was answered 3-2 in Frankfurt. An unusual statistic for a team that is always haunted by the hint of failure. But they were there again when Bayern slipped up.
After five matchdays in the second half of the season, BVB took three points from Bayern and is once again only six points behind the eternal champions. It may not be enough for the top this year either, but the convincing victory puts Dortmund at ease for the moment. “Now it’s important that we also enjoy the win. That we were able to let out all the frustration that we built up in the last game and during the week. We had a very, very restless week,” said Reus. and he was probably right about that.