Borussia Dortmund fought to a 1-1 (1-0) draw against leaders Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. Due to the thin staffing level, a player stepped into the breach, who BVB coach Edin Terzic only uses in extreme emergencies. He received special praise as a thank you. Meanwhile, the Dortmund hospital is emptying.
According to “Ruhr Nachrichten”, Borussia Dortmund’s hospital room has become a little emptier. Niklas Süle, Ramy Bensebaini and Salih Özcan, who were recently ill, were all able to return to the BVB training ground on Monday.
There is great hope on the part of the Black and Yellows that head coach Edin Terzic can take the trio with him to the difficult away game in the DFB Cup at VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday (8:45 p.m.).
Süle had already missed the Champions League game at AC Milan (3-1) due to a cold. The German international didn’t even travel to Italy.
Special praise for BVB emergency nail
Coach Terzic has been under pressure in recent games, especially in defense. Marius Wolf came into the starting line-up against league leaders Leverkusen due to the short-term absence of Ramy Bensebaini, while Julian Ryerson moved to the left defense.
When the already ailing central defender Nico Schlotterbeck signaled after 64 minutes that he could no longer play, squad emergency man Antonios Papadopoulos came into the game and made his fourth Bundesliga appearance. The Stuttgart native is actually a permanent member of the second team, and the signs are that he is saying goodbye due to his contract expiring in the summer.
“He did well, stuck his neck out and did exactly what he was supposed to do,” Papadopoulos even received special praise from sports director Sebastian Kehl afterwards, according to “Ruhr Nachrichten”. “Dad has already played a few games for us and has got his nerves under control.”
In the sport.de-Individual criticism of the 132-time third division player was: “Did a remarkable job and prevented the pass into the center several times in an emergency. In the end, the BVB professional received a grade of 3.5.