Saturday, April 03, 2021
Champions League is out of sight
BVB threatens to lose everything
On the 27th matchday of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund experienced a late blow in the neck: In the early final for a Champions League place, BVB lost to Eintracht Frankfurt. In the basement, Mainz 05 does not help its miraculous series to victory, at Schalke there is at least a hint of a dream comeback.
Borussia Dortmund – Eintracht Frankfurt 1: 2 (1: 1)
For Borussia Dortmund, the most important goal of the season has moved a long way off. In the 1: 2 (1: 1) against Eintracht Frankfurt, Edin Terzic’s team had to accept a possibly decisive setback in the fight for a Champions League place. After the 10th defeat of the season, the gap to fourth place in the Bundesliga increased to seven points. Dortmund’s Nico Schulz (own goal / 11th) and André Silva (87th) met in the empty Signal Iduna Park for the contested victory of the guests, who ended a negative series of nine defeats in Dortmund.
For Borussia, the game was not enough to encourage the difficult quarter-final first leg in the European premier class three days later at Manchester City. The interim equalization by Mats Hummels (45th) could not change that. “We can take a really, really big step today,” said Eintracht coach Adi Hütter before the kick-off on Sky TV and showed a lot of courage with an offensive tactic. This courage was rewarded early on – albeit with support from Dortmund. Because right-back Nico Schulz headed a cross from guest star Filip Kostic in an unfortunate manner into his own network and put BVB behind.
The up to then actually passable start of Borussia, in which the regular full-back Raphael Guerreiro, who had recovered from a muscle injury, tried himself as a playmaker in the offensive headquarters, was thus reduced to absurdity. Although BVB continued to press the Frankfurt goal after the 0: 1, they missed good opportunities. Striker Erling Haaland (21./25.) Missed two opportunities to equalize.
Shortly before the break, the great commitment to BVB paid off. After a corner, national player Can was lucky to drop the defensive boss Hummels, who scored his fourth goal of the season from close range and thus gave his team the well-deserved equalization.
Eintracht remained an uncomfortable opponent and seemed close to renewed leadership with a header from Stefan Ilsanker (65th). But the hit was denied after a video check for offside position. And in the hard-fought final phase, Frankfurt were closer to 2-1 than BVB. Djibril Sow missed the goal in the 79th minute from a promising position. But once again you could rely on Silva. After a cross from Jovic, the Eintracht striker was on the spot with his head and gave his team an important victory.
Bayer Leverkusen – Schalke 04 2: 1 (1: 0)
Hannes Wolf did the duty on his coaching debut for Bayer Leverkusen against the almost certain relegated FC Schalke 04: His team defeated the Revierklub 2-1 (1-0). Leverkusen collected important points in the fight for the European Cup ranks through the success under the successor to Peter Bosz, who was on leave before the international break. Schalke can hardly save themselves from relegation from the Bundesliga with only seven games left.
Lucas Alario (26th minute) and Joker Patrik Schick (72nd) met for Leverkusen. The goal of the guests was scored by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (82nd) in his first starting XI since his return in winter. At 37 years and 234 days, the Dutchman is now Schalke’s oldest league goalscorer and replaced former goalkeeper Oliver Reck, who was 36 years and 347 days old when he scored in February 2002. Schalke have now been without a win for twelve league games – and have only won one game at all. The Gelsenkirchen team now has 71 goals conceded after 27 games – a club record. The young winger Mehmet Can Aydin played for the first time at Schalke, while ex-world champion Shkodran Mustafi was not in the squad for “sporting reasons”.
In the early stages, Huntelaar missed the early lead in the first big chance of the West duel (11th) when he headed just over the goal of Lukas Hradecky after an Aydin cross from close range, who was back into the Bayer team after surviving an injury was moved. Huntelaar, who had previously scored many goals for the Royal Blues from 2010 to 2017, was well integrated into his team’s game, but the Revierclub’s attacks hardly resulted in closings.
At Leverkusen, a positive coach effect was initially not observed. The table sixth had a lot of possession and was superior overall, but was initially harmless like the guests on the offensive. A highlight, however, was the 1-0, which the home side played out nicely: Captain Charles Aránguiz shifted from right to left, there Kerem Demirbay prevailed and passed in the middle, where Alario pushed the ball into the goal. The 2-0 by Schick almost 20 minutes before the end seemed like the decision, but Huntelaar’s late goal after a nice combination caused tension again. More was not possible for the bottom of the league in the end.
Mainz 05 – Arminia Bielfeld 1: 1 (0: 0)
FSV Mainz 05 missed the next big points in the relegation battle and could not leave rival Arminia Bielefeld behind in a direct duel. The team of coach Bo Svensson did not get beyond a 1: 1 (0: 0) against the promoted team. In front of the empty ranks due to the corona, Daniel Brosinski (56th minute) had put Mainz in the lead with a penalty kick before Andreas Voglsammer (76th) made the equalizer. Brosinski’s penalty kick was the 31st penalty that a Mainz player scored in a row in the Bundesliga, with the Rheinhessen team building on their own record.
In the relegation battle, Mainz (25) and Bielefeld (23) are therefore still close to each other. The Arminia remains in relegation rank 17, but scored for the third time in the fifth game under the new coach Frank Kramer. Barreiro, who, unlike captain Danny Latza, was back in the starting XI of the 05er, had the two best chances in the early stages: In the third minute he was free at the far post after a long throw-in from Moussa Niakhaté, but Anderson Lucoqui cleared his shot before the line for the already beaten Bielefeld goalkeeper Stefan Ortega. A short time later it was Ortega, who rushed out, who defused a shot from Barreiro.
The offensive efforts of Arminia, in which Kramer left striker Fabian Klos on the bench, were poor in the first 45 minutes: Voglsammer (9th) came after a cross from the right to the header, but missed the goal of Robin Zentner. The 0-0 after 45 minutes was not only fair after a mistaken half, but also summed up the quality of the game very well.
After the half-time break, in which the Sky microphone was about Austro-Pop and singer Peter Cornelius due to the lack of scenes worth showing, Mainz increased the pressure. When Burkardt went down after contact with Pieper’s replacement Mike van der Hoorn, the 05ers received a penalty: Brosinski converted with a low shot. Bielefeld didn’t have much to offer offensively even after the 0: 1. The equalization seemed strange: After a free kick, Voglsammer hit the rebound a second time in the direction of the goal – the ball rolled right next to the post to make it 1: 1.
FC Augsburg – TSG Hoffenheim 2: 1 (2: 0)
FC Augsburg has ended its black series against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and heightened the concerns of the travel group from Kraichgau. Thanks to steam maker Ruben Vargas, Augsburg won after five home defeats one after the other against the harmless guests without their top striker Andrej Kramaric. Augsburg overtook Hoffenheim in the table with a sovereign 2: 1 (2: 0) on Saturday and made a giant step towards relegation. After the secondment of 13 professionals during the international break, however, the team of coach Sebastian Hoeneß presented itself completely without ideas. A late goal with a wow effect by substitute Robert Skov (86th) brought them almost close to winning a point.
VfL Wolfsburg – 1. FC Cologne 1: 0 (0: 0)
For 1. FC Köln and its coach Markus Gisdol, things are getting tighter in the relegation battle. Despite a convincing first half, the table-16 lost. 0: 1 (0: 0) at the Champions League candidate VfL Wolfsburg. The fall on a direct relegation place was spared the Cologne once again. After the draw between the two direct rivals Mainz and Bielefeld, only the slightly better goal difference separates FC from Arminia in 17th place. On the other hand, Josip Brekalo’s winning goal in the 69th minute provided Wolfsburg before the difficult games against Eintracht Frankfurt , Bayern Munich, VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund have an impressive lead over the first non-Champions League place. There are now eleven points between third place Wolfsburg and fifth Dortmund. The Wolves had big problems with Cologne, especially in the first half, but they fought their way into this game. The best evidence of this was the game-winning action by Wout Weghorst, who prepared the Brekalo goal when he fell.
The big question after this game is what will become of FC coach Markus Gisdol. Because managing director Horst Heldt gave the 51-year-old practically only one job guarantee for the next game before the international break. However, the Cologne players did everything they could to strengthen the position of their coach for at least one half on Saturday. After the convincing 2: 2 against Dortmund, the relegation candidate this time hit the next top team enormously. In the 14th minute, captain Jonas Hector only hit the crossbar of the Wolfsburg goal. The favorite did not come that close to a possible opening goal in the entire first half. On the defensive, Cologne gave Wolfsburg hardly any room. On the offensive, they took dangerous actions several times via the external positions. The frustration that FC generated with this stubborn style of play was best seen in the emotions of Wolfsburg coach Oliver Glasner. Much more often than usual, the Austrian appeared on the sidelines, cursing loudly. After the half-time whistle, he stayed on his bench for a longer period of time. Whatever Glasner said in the cabin afterwards: It had an effect. Because VfL played more purposefully and more forcefully in the second half and also improved significantly in its core competence, winning the ball. The Cologne team hardly came out of their own half of the game. For them, however, spoke that they still hardly allowed clear Wolfsburg chances – apart from Brekalo’s winning goal.
Gisdol then switched on the offensive players Sebastian Andersson, Florian Kainz and Emmanuel Dennis, of whom Kainz had not played this season and Andersson had not played in at least the past three and a half months. And at least one of these two comebacks after long injury breaks almost paid off. In the fifth minute of stoppage time, a cross from Kainz gave Tunisian Ellyes Skhiri a great chance to equalize.
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