“It went pretty well”
BVB debutant initiates “goosebumps” gala
4/16/2022, 6:51 p.m
Borussia Dortmund offers a goal gala for the Bundesliga game against VfL Wolfsburg. Ironically, the surprising debutant Tom Rothe opens the Schützenfest in the sold-out stadium. The club has the Champions League as good as certain.
Erling Haaland joked with his Dortmund teammates, who celebrated exuberantly with BVB fans in the south stand. On the other hand, Wolfsburg had to report to their supporters, VfL leader Maximilian Arnold discussed with many gestures. The Schützenfest on Holy Saturday triggered opposite emotions.
“It went really well,” said Dortmund’s Bundesliga debutant Tom Rothe with a smile after the 6-1 (5-0) win over Lower Saxony after BVB could only theoretically take part in the Champions League for the seventh time in a row. With four games left, the Westphalians have a twelve-point lead over fifth place.
The 17-year-old, who immediately scored the first goal (24′), was absolutely thrilled: “When you play here yourself, it’s blatant – goosebumps, indescribable.” The gap to leaders Bayern Munich was reduced to six points before the top game with the German record champions, at least until Easter Sunday.
On the other hand, Wolfsburg’s sports director Marcel Schäfer was pissed off. “Everything that happened after Dortmund went 1-0 was not Bundesliga worthy,” complained the ex-professional, “that was an underground performance, we can’t perform like that.”
Haaland scores twice
In addition to Rothe, Axel Witsel (26th), Manuel Akanji (28th), Emre Can (34th) and Erling Haaland (38th/54th) scored for BVB, who played in a frenzy especially in the first half and finished 13th. win in the last 14 games (one draw) against their favorite opponent. Only Ridle Baku (81st) was successful for the Lower Saxony.
The omens were anything but good. Thorgan Hazard (back pain) was out for a short time, so Dortmund were missing six players. In the early stages, the hosts had to sort themselves out in front of 79,200 spectators. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel prevented an early deficit against national player Lukas Nmecha (3rd).
After a quarter of an hour, BVB got into the game better and Rothe quickly got over his initial nervousness. The U19 international gave the lead with a header from a Julian Brandt corner.
Reus with anniversary
After that, Dortmund were unstoppable. Witsel increased after nice preliminary work from Haaland, Akanji scored after a free kick from Marco Reus. For the captain it was the 100th assist in the league, only Thomas Müller, Franck Ribery and Andreas Möller have more to their credit.
BVB then stormed on. Can increased from a distance, then after the best attack of the first half, Reus put it across to Haaland, who scored without a goal after 422 minutes. In its long league history, BVB had only led higher at halftime (6-0) at Schalke 04 in 1964. A 5-0 after 45 minutes was last in 1986.
In the second round, the guests got off to a better start again. But Kobel parried against Jonas Wind (46th). On the other hand, the strong Reus missed (51st). Haaland then filled the half-dozen. Aster Vranckx only hit the bar for VfL (70th). Lion Semic and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens also made their Bundesliga debuts in the 88th minute.