Not brilliant, but efficient: Borussia Dortmund defeated FSV Mainz 05 and preserved his chance of a European Cup place. The team of coach Niko Kovac defeated the fourth in the table with 3: 1 (2: 0).
Due to the success, BVB shortened its gap to an international rank to four points. The fourth -placed Mainz are seven points ahead of Dortmund. In order to save the Bundesliga season at least halfway, the Westphalia now need a large final sprint. The victory encourages it.
“Despite the rain, still beautiful,” said coach Niko Kovac at the streaming service “DAZN”: “We won. There is nothing better for a footballer and a coach.”
In front of 81,365 spectators in the sold -out Dortmund stadium, Maximilian Beier (39th/72nd minute) and Emre Can (42nd) scored the goals for the hosts. The Mainz, who had previously remained undefeated in the Bundesliga and had scored eleven goals, were too harmless this time. Only Paul Nebel (76.) scored for the team of Coach Bo Henriksen.
BVB must do without his top scorer
“Win, no matter how,” Kovac had spent on as a slogan. Even before the game, the 53-year-old had to put away a setback: his best striker Serhou Guirassy failed with muscular problems.
Despite some inaccuracies in the game structure, BVB nevertheless came to the first degrees early. Neither Karim Adeyemi, whose ball was deflected, nor did they bring the ball to the Mainz goal in their experiments. Shots by Julian Brandt and Nico Schlotterbeck fended off 05 keeper Robin Zentner.
The guests initially mainly limited themselves to the defense work and tried to quickly switch to ball gains. The Rheinhessen weren’t really dangerous.
Dortmund hits twice shortly before the break
For this, BVB had the fans that were slowly falling restlessly before the break. Adeyemi put it past Beier in the penalty area past Zentner and the 22-year-old only had to push the play equipment into the empty goal. And that’s not all: Dortmund quickly added. Captain Can headed to 2-0 after a corner of international Nico Schlotterbeck. There was applause for the break.
After the change of sides, Mainz started lively. Driven by U21 international Nebel, the guests built pressure and pushed BVB back a long way. With a double chance of Silvan Widmer and Fog, Dortmund’s goalkeeper Gregor Kobel saved twice shiny.
Schlotterbeck is again a preparer
On the other hand, hundredweight against the Adeyemi to be stormed freely prevented the third Dortmund gate. After the subsequent corner, however, the 30-year-old was powerless. Schlotterbeck flanked again strongly and found his buyer in Beier.
The game was decided. Although shortened fog again for Mainz, Borussia ultimately brought victory over time.
In order to really speak of an upward trend, the BVB now has to add up. It won’t be easy: for Dortmund there is an away three-pack with the games in Freiburg, FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and at Bayern Munich.