Eighth match of the year, eighth treble: Borussia Dortmund defeats Leipzig 2:1
The 31-year-old did not expect Alexander Meyer to have a normal evening at work until shortly before he went on duty. He is usually on the bench when Gregor Kobel is in goal for Borussia Dortmund. On this Friday evening, however, in the Bundesliga top match against RB Leipzig, Meyer had to step into the BVB goal, as regular keeper Kobel was indisposed due to muscle problems immediately before the start of the match.
The substitute’s nervousness was just as visible at the beginning as his joy at a victory with expression afterwards. An incredibly efficient BVB gave their pursuers from Leipzig a shot across the bow with the 2:1 (2:0) and underpinned their no longer exaggerated hopes of their first championship since 2012 with a record victory.
The mood in the South Stand was unanimous in this respect. As in the previous week, coach Edin Terzic’s team took the lead – subscription champions FC Bayern München will have to follow suit this Saturday at VfB Stuttgart to catch up with BVB again. It’s amazing, the evil M-word mentality can quietly give way in Dortmund linguistic usage to the enthusiastic M-word championship contender. In the eighth league game of the year, there was the eighth sense of achievement, something that has only happened once in black and yellow within a season so far: in the last championship year, when Jürgen Klopp made the Borsigplatz shake with the title at the end.
Borussia went into the match anything but naive. In the 0:3 first leg, the “worst game this season”, as Terzic found, “we were eaten up in the duels.” This is probably why the defensively trained Julian Ryerson and Salih Özcan replaced Raphael Guerreiro and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who were more geared towards attack and drive. For in the early stages, the counter-attacking Saxons made it clear why, with 37 points, they have collected more than any other Bundesliga side in the club’s internal Marco Rose table – which counts points since the former BVB coach took over the club before matchday six. Amadou Haidara tested Meyer from just over 20 metres (5th minute), French international Christopher Nkunku curled past the far post from a half-left position (7th). On the pitch, RB underpinned its claims to once again be in the championship fight.
The best answer from BVB’s point of view: goals. Julian Brandt had already scored after Jude Bellingham’s 30-metre assist (13th), but he had received the ball with his hand, which was not only noticed by the video referee. Seven minutes later, however, RB goalkeeper Janis Blaswich could only prevent Marco Reus from successfully finishing the ball by committing a foul: Penalty, the fouled player converted safely to 1:0 (21.). Incidentally, it was Reus’ 159th goal for BVB, which is why he is now, together with Michael Zeyer, the first runner-up to record goal scorer Adi Preißler (177th). After Alexander Meyer had wiped the sweat of fear from his brow because his kick, blocked by Dominik Szoboszlai, went out of bounds next to his own box (37th), there was rejoicing in black and yellow again: a set-up and deflected shot by Emre Can from 20 metres hit the roof of the RB goal, 2:0 (39th).
Marco Rose looked extremely economical on his return to Dortmund as he came out of the dressing room for the second half. The BVB defence around the strong Niklas Süle nevertheless had to fear Leipzig’s redemption. In fact, the visitors came out with a lot of pressure: André Silva just missed with the outside of his foot (48th) or was brilliantly saved by Meyer (69th). In the 74th minute, David Raum, who had come on as a substitute, got the better of the sleeping BVB backline and served Emil Forsberg at the far post to make it 1:2. Dortmund was too passive, also too shaky, and had to tremble. Nevertheless, the victory remained, and Borussia can extend their record streak next Saturday – in the Revier derby at Schalke 04, of all places.
