BVB draws a flattering 1-1 at Bayer Leverkusen – but has to deal with a late equalizer.

Gregor Kobel raised his arm again as a precaution, perhaps luck was on Borussia Dortmund’s side once more. But it wasn’t this time: Bayer Leverkusen finally got the ball in the net after 79 minutes of running, with Victor Boniface scoring the 1-1. And it should stay 1-1, which was a flattering point from Dortmund’s perspective.

In all the usual statistics, they were clearly behind: possession of the ball, corner kicks, shots on target – only in the decisive one, the number of goals, were they on a par, which they had achieved through a great deal of fighting. And so they prevented the league leaders from stretching their lead to 13 points – but the late equalizer saw them slip to fifth place.

BVB had worked out a pretty good underdog tactic against the league leaders: sit deep, counter, long balls, man-to-man marking against Bayer’s creative players Florian Wirtz and Jonas Hofmann, plus time-wasting and the odd tackle. This allowed them to equalize the dreaded pace of the Bayer eleven for long spells of the game.

And it suited the visitors extremely well that the first of a few constructive attacks worked: Sabitzer artistically passed the ball with his heel to Füllkrug, who strongly held the ball with his back to goal and passed it to the onrushing Julian Ryerson – who scored from close range (5th minute).

The static of the game should change little, which continued to be determined by Leverkusen, who were initially dangerous from long range: Exequiel Palacios (7th) and Granit Xhaka (14th) shot too centrally, and although there was a huge cheer in the stadium when Xhaka tried again, the ball flew past the wrong side of the post (21st).

The hosts rarely posed a threat in the box because central defenders Mats Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck did a good job of clearing the ball, and because Emre Can and Marcel Sabitzer also dropped back so far that the back four often formed a back six. However, when in possession, Dortmund were too sloppy and rarely managed to get around the league leaders’ intense pressing. Leverkusen, on the other hand, impressed with combinations in the tightest of spaces, but occasionally lost themselves in their passing relays instead of looking to finish.

And yet they continued to close the gap: Wirtz lifted the ball nicely over the onrushing Hummels in the box, but then failed to get the ball to Hofmann, who had followed up (24). Jonathan Tah, unmarked at the far post, took a breather after a corner (27). Alejandro Grimaldos’s free-kick from 25 meters was parried by Gregor Kobel (31). And when the Leverkusen team did finally celebrate, when a cross had found its way to Wirtz, who took a well-placed shot, the video assistant helped Dortmund: striker Victor Boniface had been very slightly offside when the goal was scored (45.+1).