Saturday, January 08, 2022
Success after a clear deficit
BVB is turning its fate very late
For a long time it looks like Borussia Dortmund will start the second half of the Bundesliga with a very unfortunate start: BVB are quickly 0-2 behind in Frankfurt, but after a turbulent final phase, the second in the table still picked up three points.
Bayern pursuer Borussia Dortmund averted the false start in the second half of the Bundesliga in a crazy final phase. In particular, thanks to the late goals by Jude Bellingham (87th) and Mahmoud Dahoud (89th), BVB came down 3: 2 (0: 2) on Saturday evening at Eintracht Frankfurt after being 0: 2 behind. The deficit on the record champions from Munich is now only six points. Bayern lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday evening (1: 2).
Rafael Borré had initially brought Eintracht into the lead with a brace (16th / 24th minute). After Thorgan Hazard’s goal (71st), BVB pushed for more goals – and rewarded themselves. The hope of licensed player boss Sebastian Kehl to “start again” after the weak end of the year in 2021 was fulfilled. As a coach, Frankfurt’s Oliver Glasner narrowly missed his first win in the sixth duel against Dortmund.
The BVB professionals put a lot of pressure on from the first minute and would have taken the hosts by surprise if Eintracht keeper Kevin Trapp hadn’t directed a shot from Thomas Meunier in a world-class manner at the right post (2nd). Dortmund dominated the game for a good quarter of an hour until Eintracht took the first chance: After a free kick by Filip Kostic, Borré took the lead with a stretched leg from close range, with BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel not looking very happy.
The goal conceded the guests completely off the mark, suddenly almost nothing went together for the Champions League starter. In contrast, the hit gave Eintracht an enormous boost, which now dominated the completely insecure Borussia and came to 2-0 through Borré’s sixth goal of the season. Again Kostic had done the preparatory work with a hard pass into the middle.
After that, things could have been even worse for BVB when Evan N’Dicka first hit the post (29th) and Jesper Lindström only hit the side netting after a solo (34th). The Dane was unexpectedly in the starting line-up after testing positive for the coronavirus on Thursday. Another test reversed the result.
In stoppage time in the first half, Borussia had the chance to score a connecting goal. After a header from Mats Hummels, which Trapp fought off brilliantly again, Donyell Malen hit the post in the margin. In the second round, Dortmund had caught up again and increasingly pushed the hosts on the defensive. Hazard rewarded the effort to catch up. After a pass from the exceptional striker Erling Haaland, from which there was little danger overall, Hazard Eintracht goalkeeper Trapp tunnelled with a low shot. Bellingham and Dahoud put on the crown in the final phase of the race to catch up.