The hope of a redemptive victory proves to be wishful thinking. After the 1:1 draw against Mainz, BVB are facing a turbulent winter break. The criticism of coach Terzic is likely to get louder.
A roar of whistles from the stands, perplexed players on the pitch and a serious-looking coach on the sidelines, who is now coming under even more criticism. After the painful title trauma last May, Borussia Dortmund once again showed nerves in the duel with FSV Mainz and suffered a serious setback.
206 days after the memorable season finale (2:2) at the same venue, in which Terzic’s team gambled away the championship, the hoped-for sense of achievement failed to materialize once again in a 1:1 draw.
“I’m basically concerned with the situation, it’s not easy,” said BVB international Julian Brandt on TV channel Sat.1. “It sucks, to be honest. It always sucks to go into the break with a draw or a defeat.”
The sixth competitive game without a win in a row is likely to increase criticism of the BVB coach. Media reports of an alleged “player revolt” against Terzic had already caused additional controversy before the game. The fifth-placed team in the Bundesliga’s table is increasingly in danger of qualifying for the Champions League once again.
“We simply made too many mistakes,” said international Emre Can: it was simply the decisive moments that were not on BVB’s side. “It’s not always down to the coach. It has nothing to do with the coach if the ball hits the crossbar,” Can also emphasized when asked about this on pay-TV channel Sky.
The goal conceded by Sepp Van den Berg (43rd minute) on Tuesday in front of 80,350 spectators at Signal Iduna Park after BVB had taken the lead through Brandt (29th minute) will severely disrupt the longed-for Christmas calm.
Mainz, on the other hand, finally had reason to celebrate. The end of the goal drought after 363 minutes and the respectable draw allowed them to jump up to 15th place in the table, at least for one day. Whether this will increase interim coach Jan Siewert’s chances of being promoted to head coach and permanent successor to Bo Svensson remains to be seen.
Sabitzer also only hits the crossbar
After the criticism of the past few days, BVB were clearly keen to make amends and took control from the start. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens provided the first exclamation mark when he struck the crossbar with force in the eighth minute. Shortly afterwards, the BVB attacker narrowly missed the opposing goal with a long-range shot (16′).
A remarkable free-kick from Brandt took some of the pressure off Borussia. The international expertly curled the ball into the top left-hand corner from 18 meters to put his team ahead. Just two minutes later, BVB even came close to making it 2-0. However, like Bynoe-Gittens before him, Marcel Sabitzer only hit the crossbar.
Whistles from the stands for Borussia
Until then, there had been little to see from Mainz in attack. BVB’s 14:3 shots on goal accurately reflected the course of the game. But when Terzic’s team slowed down, the visitors struck back with a goal out of nowhere. Van den Berg headed a cross from Philipp Mwene into the net from close range.
The consternation on the faces of the BVB professionals at the half-time whistle was worth a thousand words. Borussia looked rattled after the restart. All of a sudden, Mainz were the dominant team and even pushed for the lead.
The first whistles from the stands prompted the BVB professionals to step up the pace. However, they did not create as many chances as they had in the first 45 minutes. A rebellion against the draw was only evident very late on, and a goal in stoppage time by Giovanni Reyna was disallowed for offside
