Football Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund suffered a bitter 2:4 (2:3) away defeat at the end of the year against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The BVB defence was disappointing.
The last Bundesliga matchday before the World Cup break could hardly have begun more spectacularly. It was a wild Borussian duel that Mönchengladbach and Dortmund fought on Friday evening, especially in the first half. When referee Sven Jablonski blew the final whistle in front of 54,024 spectators in the sold-out Borussia Park at 10.24 pm, the BVB players hung their heads while the Gladbach professionals celebrated a 4:2 (3:2) victory. They occupy seventh place with 22 points, at least for the time being, and can go into the league break with a good feeling.
Gladbach, who have been missing several key players for weeks, had to do without Alassane Pléa (Corona infection) against Dortmund. Captain Lars Stindl replaced him in the starting eleven. BVB coach Edin Terzic made two changes compared to the game against VfL Wolfsburg (0:2): Emre Can and Giovanni Reyna started, Salih Özcan and Karim Adeyemi were initially on the bench.
Gladbach’s international Jonas Hofmann had formulated the goal “not to lose the connection and to create a good starting position for the coming year”. Three days after the 2-1 defeat at VfL Bochum, the hosts followed these words with early action. In the fourth minute, Manu Koné initiated a move through the centre where Dortmund had allowed a large gap to develop. Stindl passed the ball through the middle to Hofmann, who had started across from the right and scored flat into the bottom left corner for 1:0. The World Cup participant showed once again in this scene that he has a very good sense of running and enormous finishing power.
After the goal, the Gladbach team played with a lot of momentum. The Dortmund team was too slow in many situations, defended inconsistently and therefore got into further trouble. Nevertheless, they managed to equalise – and it was a great sight. Jude Bellingham crossed from the half-left high into the sixteen-metre area, where Julian Brandt had his back to goal. The international player took the ball and shot a volley from the turn (19th). Offensively, Dortmund made an exclamation mark, but defensively they continued to be indisposed.
On a Hofmann free-kick from the right, Bellingham neglected to cover Ramy Bensebaini and the Algerian headed in accurately for 2-1 (26th). Four minutes later Marcus Thuram started a wonderful solo in front of the halfway line. In the end, he got around BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and slid in for 3:1 (30.).
However, Gladbach also showed great weaknesses in their defensive work. The Dortmunders suddenly turned up the heat. Gladbach goalkeeper Jan Olschowsky scrambled a header by Moukoko off the line, Reyna’s follow-up shot was spectacularly saved by Bensebaini (33rd). Olschowsky again made a strong save against Moukoko (37th) and also blocked a header by Süle, but Nico Schlotterbeck sank the rebound to make it 2:3 (40th). Shortly before the break, Olschowsky prevented the equaliser with a chance from Donyell Malen (43rd). The game went from strength to strength, there was hardly any time to breathe in the first half.
And the game continued like this right at the start of the second half, but now Gladbach were again in control. Manu Koné increased the lead with a low shot from about 20 metres (46.), Thuram missed a great chance to make it 5:2 (52.). A supposed Hofmann goal was disallowed due to a previous foul on Mats Hummels (74th), who disappointed all along the line on Friday evening. BVB could not create any more danger. Dortmund suffered a heavy blow before the break, while Gladbach celebrated after their last league game of the year.
