Dortmund's success in a quick check: When in doubt, Erling Haaland

Borussia Dortmund needs 45 minutes to find the Bundesliga top game at RB Leipzig. Then Erling Haaland is also wide awake, who screwed his quota to "25 in 25". Julian Nagelsmann is therefore less in a good mood than before the kick-off.

What happened in the Leipzig arena?

Statistically, exactly what was to be expected. Because there has not been a home win by RB Leipzig against Borussia Dortmund for almost four and a half years, when the then promoted from Saxony won the Bundesliga game in its corporate history 1-0 against Westphalia. Since then, there have been four more duels in the former central stadium in which Schwarzgelb is undefeated. Nevertheless, Leipzig's trainer Julian Nagelsmann said before the top game of the 15th round of the House of Lords: "We are planning the win because we (…) are in a very good mood." Obviously not good enough, at least this evening.

It was supposed to be a top game, so the DFL sells this kick-off time, but at least in the first half there was little evidence that these two clubs would like to end FC Bayern's eternal championship series. Dortmund let Leipzig come, but not in dangerous final situations and if you want to watch the full 90 minutes in the repetition, you can easily skip the phase before the break.

In the second part of the game, Borussia Dortmund broke away from the lethargy of the first round and actually managed to put the Leipzig goal in trouble. Even several times and successfully, which is why in the eternal ups and downs of the black and yellow football soul there is now time again for high hopes. At least until the next disillusionment against an opponent who can clearly be beaten according to your own self-image.

Teams & goals

Gates: 0: 1 Sancho (55th), 0: 2 Haaland (71th), 0: 3 Haaland (84th), 1: 3 Sörloth (89th)

Leipzig: Gulacsi – Orban, Upamecano, Halstenberg – Adams, Sabitzer (61st Klostermann), Haidara (71st Hwang), Angelino – Dani Olmo, Forsberg (61st Sörloth) – Poulsen (88th Samardzic). – Trainer: Nail man

Dortmund: Bürki – Meunier, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro – Witsel (30th Can), Delaney (69th Zagadou) – Sancho (85th Tigges), Reus (85th Brandt), Reyna – Haaland. – Trainer: Terzic

Our detailed report on the game can be found here.

The 90 minutes in the feature film

10th minute: So far it is enough to keep an eye on Dortmund's half of the pitch. Borussia defends deeply, sometimes with all eleven players behind the center line. Leipzig is applying pressure, but without having become seriously dangerous so far. The black and yellow game structure has not yet earned its name.

12th minute: The good thing about ghost games: The announcements on and off the field can be heard clearly. For example Mats Hummels, who asks: "Where is the foul?" The correct and convincing answer from referee Daniel Siebert: Exactly where the free kick is now.

17th minute: The top Bundesliga game is a bit reminiscent of my own experiences in the district class. Referee Siebert allows tough duel, both teams use this. That doesn't improve the quality of football. Whereby the one in the district class sometimes remained missing for the entire 90 minutes.

Witsel had to go down early, injured.

(Photo: imago images / MIS)

23rd minute: The first really dangerous situation for Leipzig, but the cross from the strong Angelino rushes through. What also rushed through: Julian Nagelsmann, who – roughly estimated – has not yet left a single action of his team uncommented. Which he would make little friends with in the district class.

35th minute: The stiff neck is relieving a little, Dortmund is now finding its way into the Leipzig half. But not more than that. Right now it is so exciting that the question arises as to whether the Saxons did not exaggerate the "bull" theme in the stadium when they decorated the entire circuit with pictures of larger-than-life animals.

Halftime: What's going on on Twitter? Not much, but it's a nicer place since Donald Trump is no longer allowed to shout his lies to the world there, at least there. To the top Bundesliga game? If you missed the first 45 minutes, you missed almost nothing.

49th minute: Well, finally, goal danger. Dortmund on the left, Reus gets the ball on the left in the penalty area, but Gulacsi saves for a corner. Can heads them on goal. An approximation. And BVB's first shot on goal.

55th minute, GOOOAAAL FOR DORTMUND: BVB is now much more determined than before the break. Haaland and Reus combine on the right side, the Norwegian comes into the penalty area with speed and lays back on Reus, who plays with the hoe to Sancho. He pushes in at the bottom left for guidance. Or as Mats Hummels puts it: "That's good, Jadon", combined with the call: "It will continue immediately". First off with Leipzig.

65th minute: Feel the tremendous power of the Erling Haaland once, that's what the Leipziger Tor was allowed to do. However, in such a way that the ball flew from the housing back into the playing field, no, was thrown. Left glue, gulacsi still on, latte, no goal. But Dortmund with clear advantages. Leipzig almost had to toast again.

67th minute: Post on the other side. Dani Olmo gets an impressive amount of space in the penalty area and therefore dutifully decides to shoot the play equipment past Roman Bürki. He succeeds, but his shot hits the left inner post and from there back into the game, centimeters missing: Kick off Dortmund.

71st MINUTE, BEAUTIFUL GOAL FOR DORTMUND: It doesn't get much nicer today. First Haaland bumps through against four Leipzigers and puts on Sancho, who has a lot of time, combines with Guerreiro and then crosses. In the middle, Haaland leaves no doubt that this cross was intended for him and therefore heads because what else should he do?

72nd minute: Kick-off Leipzig.

80th minute: Mats Hummels is not satisfied: "We're too passive right now" and "We have to do more, Marco, defensively."

The thing was through.

(Photo: imago images / Eibner)

84th MINUTE, GOAL FOR DORTMUND: Julian Brandt is already ready to come on, but Marco Reus has something to do just before the end of the day. A wonderful plug-in pass on Haaland, which appears free in front of Gulacsi, confidently curves around it and slides in to make a decision. For him it is the 25th Bundesliga goal in the 25th Bundesliga game.

89th minute, goal for Leipzig: "I feel good" is playing in the stadium, but nobody looks really in a good mood wearing a white jersey and red trousers. Haaland's national team colleague Alexander Sörloth scores his first Bundesliga goal, but that doesn't change the outcome of this game.

What was good?

Erling Haaland. So not as good as he could be at his best, but that's not to be expected so soon after an injury. And it's not new either, but the 20-year-old's positive weight is always impressive. Incidentally, weight is one of those great words that sound exactly like what they say when spoken. The scene before the 2-0, when Haaland is harassed with the ball by a total of four Leipzigers, is enough for that, but refuses to lose a duel. That's why he then gives outside to Jadon Sancho, who tries to find him again with a flank on the second post for a few seconds.

And Haaland then reached this flank with the already mentioned force, surrounded by defenders and yet hardly to stop. It was the 25th Bundesliga appearance of the Norwegian who, thanks to the exemplary presentation by Marco Reus, now has a goal rate of exactly 1 in Germany's top division shortly before the end. 25 goals in 25 games. Sometimes a statistic is worth a thousand powerful words.

What was wrong

Another statistic. While Haaland's values ​​stand out, Julian Nagelsmann's are not that great. Because although the Leipzig coach shouted, screamed and yelled one instruction after the other from the sidelines, in the end he was a loser. The outside microphones of the empty stadium made it easy to hear how many commands he was trying to convey to his team. However, he should not be satisfied with the implementation. On the one hand because he had planned the victory – see above – and on the other hand because he – also see above – went into the game with the belief that his team was in very good shape. Because too little of the latter was to be seen, especially in the second half, the former didn't work either and Leipzig is still waiting for the second home win against BVB.

Who is the winner of this game day?

Yeah, the answer sounds boring. And yeah, it's obvious. But: Borussia Dortmund. And why? Because Westphalia was the only team to win from the top six of the table this weekend. Bayern lost after a 2-0 lead in Gladbach, Leipzig explains itself, Leverkusen blundered with a draw against Bremen. 1. FC Union shared the points with VfL Wolfsburg.

Oh, and another winner is of course FC Schalke 04. Simply because the Royal Blues have won again in the Bundesliga. When that last succeeded before today's historic day, Erling Haaland had never played for BVB and it was still completely normal to hug friends as a greeting. Hopefully it will work again soon.

Julian Nagelsmann (trainer RB Leipzig): "There were two different halves. In the first half we had a lot of the ball, but we lacked a bit of depth. In the second half we didn't make a lot of good things from the first. We didn't have the structure anymore. We had too many ball losses and Dortmund used them. "

Edin Terzic (coach Borussia Dortmund): "We knew that this was going to be a very important game. It was a big step in the right direction that we took many small steps. We made a total of 112 bad passes – 110 of them felt in the first half. We did luckily get a grip. "

The tweet about the game