Kovács strikes three times
©IMAGO
Borussia Dortmund’s offspring failed in the intermediate round of the Youth League for the third time in a row. The BVB talents clearly lost 0:4 (0:1) at AZ Alkmaar on Tuesday afternoon. The decisive player of the 2023 winner had a very familiar-sounding surname for Dortmund: Bendegúz Kovács.
The sought-after Hungarian young striker, who is said to be interested by VfB Stuttgart among others, scored early in both halves (7th/50th minute) – in the second half on an assist from Saviola Simons, the cousin of Tottenham’s Xavi Simons. Wassim Bouziane (84th) put the lid on it shortly before the end, before Kovács (90th + 2) added more in stoppage time. For the Alkmaars striker, it was the first hat-trick of the current Youth League season after two games with two goals each.
Last season, BVB failed in the round of 16 against Real Madrid (0:2), and the year before against MSK Zilina (1:2). In the two previous seasons, BVB reached the quarter-finals – their best result to date in eleven participations.
Eintracht Frankfurt’s youngsters make it to the round of 16
The talents from Eintracht Frankfurt did better than the BVB youngsters on Monday evening in front of around 1,800 spectators, who made it into the round of 16 against the previously undefeated Athletic Bilbao. The SGE fell behind twice, but managed to equalize with goals from Philipp Eisele Yupanqui (39th) and Benjamin Dzanovic (81st).
In the end, the decision was made in a penalty shootout, which followed immediately after regular time (2:2). Marvin Dills converted the decisive fourth penalty for the Frankfurt youth team. The already brilliant goalkeeper Amil Siljevic parried attempts from Bilbao’s Iker Quintero and Unax Urzaiz.
This article appeared on Transfermarkt in its first version at 4:07 p.m. and was subsequently updated with the result from Eintracht Frankfurt.
