Keeper slips up, Hummels scolds
Haaland destroys BVB dream with warmth
By Hendrik Buchheister, Manchester
09/15/2022 7:27 am
Borussia Dortmund has been working on a surprise at Manchester City for a long time. Then comes Erling Haaland, jumping higher than everyone else. After his dream goal, he comforts his old teammates. Despite the defeat, BVB is taking courage ahead of the derby against Schalke.
In the end, there was hardly a member of the Dortmund tour group that Erling Haaland hadn’t hugged, high-fived or encouraged. The attacker has been with Manchester City since the summer and, as might be expected, had played a crucial role in meeting his former Champions League employers. Haaland broke the hearts of Borussia with his artistic winning goal to make it 2-1 in the 84th minute, but his ex-colleagues didn’t blame him, nor did he resent the move from the Ruhr area to the north-west of England. At least that’s what the pictures after the final whistle indicated. They were pictures of warmth.
Haaland hugged Mats Hummels, Jude Bellingham (the scorer for BVB’s 1-0 lead) and coach Edin Terzić one after the other. He offered consolation to goalkeeper Alexander Meyer, who looked ill when John Stones levelled, and had a longer chat with Thorgan Hazard. On the way to the dressing room, Haaland also stopped at assistant coaches and press office staff, and everyone in Dortmund seemed happy to see the attacker from Norway again, at least on a human level.
BVB like Union Berlin against Bayern
In terms of sport, of course, it was different. Haaland was the main reason why the Dortmund delegation left the Manchester City stadium with a feeling of emptiness. The Bundesliga club had put in a performance against the English champions and Champions League favorites that hardly anyone would have thought possible after the 3-0 defeat at RB Leipzig at the weekend with ex-coach Marco Rose. It was a performance in which the defensive work was in the foreground. The guests retreated a long way, sometimes they had eight or nine players behind the ball. They defended in a disciplined manner and with a lot of passion. The defensive players of BVB celebrated successful tackles almost as euphorically as their own goal.
Erling Haaland is a very good striker.
(Photo: Stringer/dpa)
There was actually something to celebrate when Bellingham headed the ball into the city net in the 56th minute after a sharp cross from Marco Reus. With the first shot on target, however, the hosts equalized through Stones in the 80th minute. Shortly thereafter, Haaland used João Cancelo’s cross with a kung fu kick to score the second goal for the sky-blue billions. Coach Pep Guardiola felt reminded of Zlatan Ibrahimović or Johan Cruyff by the ex-Dortmunder’s artistry, and his BVB colleague Terzic had to admit: “Not many players in the world score that goal.”
Hummels complains
Dortmund made no secret of the fact that they felt as if they had been deprived of the reward for their work with the late double strike of the favored opponent. “It’s bitter because the boys deserved at least one point,” said Terzic. “We played a very, very good game up to the 80th minute. Then it’s the little things that make the difference,” said head of sport Sebastian Kehl. And the strong Mats Hummels complained in the DAZN interview: “We had City. We had them exactly where we wanted them.” However, he also diagnosed that the team had behaved too passively before the goals were conceded, and that is exactly what cost the visitors from the Bundesliga a point or maybe even three.
Manchester City hardly had any chances, but in the end they mercilessly took advantage of Dortmund’s signs of fatigue. Before the equalizer, John Stones had too much time for his shot a few meters from the edge of the penalty area, which goalkeeper Meyer miscalculated. Before the hosts’ second goal, Emre Can operated passively against Cancelo, who gave the cross. And then, said Hummels, Haaland is Haaland.
Warning: Schalke is not Manchester City
Hummels classified his winning goal as “not defendable”. It was the striker’s thirteenth goal in eight games for Manchester City in the league and Champions League. Haaland personifies the club’s hopes that it will finally, finally, win the premier class this season. Dortmund’s goals are more modest. BVB would be happy with a stable performance after the changeable start to the season with the six-minute KO in the 2: 3 against Werder Bremen and most recently the bankruptcy against Leipzig.
Despite the defeat, the presentation at Manchester City gives courage before the neighborhood duel with FC Schalke 04 on Saturday. “We can be proud of our performance, but with that comes the obligation to deliver a really good performance in the derby” – as sports director Kehl put it and prophesied: “If the team performs like it does today, it can only happen give a winner at the weekend.” The event should have little to do with the game at Manchester City. In their own stadium against promoted Schalke, BVB will have to play the game. Unlike the reunion with Erling Haaland.