“There’s no excuse for that”
BVB is once again at a loss
1/19/2022 7:32 am
Borussia Dortmund once again missed a great opportunity: In the round of 16 of the DFB Cup, the defending champion was eliminated after a long and anemic performance at the second division club St. Pauli. In the absence of FC Bayern, BVB was one of the big favorites in the competition, now they are angry with themselves.
What did things look good at BVB in the last two hours in the Bundesliga: In the last 30 minutes of the start of the second half of the season in Frankfurt, they suddenly discovered passion, speed and penetrating power and a 0-2 deficit turned them into a 3-2 -Victory rotated. Afterwards, some even spoke of a victory of mentality. “We had a great and emotional victory,” said defender Mats Hummels. A week later, the Champions League candidate SC Freiburg was so mercilessly dismantled 5-1 that defender and double goal scorer Thomas Meunier celebrated on ESPN: “Today we performed as we are expected to do every week.”
And then – just a few days later – this: In the round of 16 of the DFB Cup, the second in the Bundesliga lost 1: 2 (0: 2) to the second division first. In a competition from which title vacuum cleaner FC Bayern Munich said goodbye for the second time in a row in the second round, inviting the competition to pick up the crumbs that the series champion sometimes lets fall. The defending champion, that is clear after the bankruptcy, will not be allowed to celebrate again. He’s left panting in the Bundesliga and the bone mill in the Europa League.
BVB found it difficult from the start against strong and focused defenders from Hamburg, instead of bringing the momentum from two inspiring Bundesliga victories onto the pitch. “We didn’t start this cup evening the way you start a cup evening in the first ten minutes. Knowing what to expect here. We cause ourselves problems with going behind and play a bit headless in the first half “The disappointed BVB coach Marco Rose was annoyed on “Sky” after a performance by his team that caused astonishment.
The Bundesliga club was behind after just four minutes, and Axel Witsel scored the 0:2 shortly before the break with an own goal. Erling Haaland’s penalty (58th) did not initiate the turnaround, but was the end of Dortmund’s efforts to turn the tide. “The fact that you then get into problems with the ground and the strong opponent under the conditions is inexplicable and cannot be excused.”
“Huge opportunity missed”
The early shock was not a wake-up call, although there would still have been plenty of time to repair the rapid deficit. “Today was a bad day, we just woke up too late,” said Marco Reus on the ARD microphone. “St. Pauli did well, but it’s very bitter for us that we’re out. We have to let that sink in first. In any case, we missed a huge opportunity to win the cup again.”
Where Rose was rightly enthusiastic about his own counter-pressing against Freiburg and spoke of a “strong first half”, the offensive efforts on the attacked north German underground seemed very headless, especially in the first half, sometimes simply actionistic. At least not constructively. St. Pauli striker Guido Burgstaller was even surprised at how little the second-best Bundesliga offensive led by megastar Erling Haaland achieved: “In the second half, they didn’t have the big things and we were even able to play one or the other counterattack,” said the Austrian on “Sky”.
Only in the last half hour did BVB’s enormous qualitative superiority shift from paper to pitch. After the first goal by Haaland, who was otherwise inconspicuous up to that point, there were two more good chances, but the Bundesliga club never really came close to a deserved equalizer. Against Eintracht Frankfurt, the late awakening was still enough for three Bundesliga points, against FC St. Pauli it meant the end of the dream of defending the title. “Unfortunately, we are confirming a few things that have been held against us in the last few weeks, months and years. It’s just our fault. Done. It’s over. The end makes me angry because it was the chance for a title and we do that Just give the game away,” Rose grumbled. BVB is difficult to explain. Also for yourself.