Borussia Dortmund was back in the Champions League places until injury time – then ex-BVB professional Jacob Bruun-Larsen scored to equalize for TSG Hoffenheim. Shortly after the break, Gio Reyna gave BVB the lead.
The Hoffenheim team had the rare phenomenon that the coach was able to rely on his own experiences from this first half of the season when scouting: Christian Ilzer had only faced BVB just over a month ago. The Austrian was still working for Sturm Graz and had Dortmund on the verge of a home defeat in the Champions League. The Ilzer team had several top-class players before Donyell Malen finally bagged the three points for Borussia.
Nsoki almost own goal
Nuri Sahin didn’t seem to want to rely on this psychological effect against Ilzer and left Malen on the substitutes’ bench at kick-off. But Dortmund quickly became dangerous even without him. In the 5th minute, Jeremy Gittens dribbled his way through and the ball almost landed in the Hoffenheim goal via TSG defender Stanley Nsoki.
After that, TSG got into the game better and had their first opportunities with a volley from Andrej Kramaric and a slightly too high attempt from Max Moerstedt. An interesting game developed with two risk-taking teams who, however, lacked the final consistency in front of the goal.
Osmers concedes a penalty again
Many fans in the stadium then celebrated the supposed 1-0 in the 27th minute, but it was only a phantom goal: Nico Schlotterbeck, who was ready to play again despite his ligament injury from the premier class against Barcelona (2:3), scored after a free kick from Pascal Groß only hit the outside netting with a hoe.
Shortly afterwards, Serhou Guirassy tried unsportsmanlike behavior and dropped spectacularly after winning a duel against Arthur Chaves and a mini-touch on his jersey. Referee Harm Osmers initially spontaneously and decisively pointed to the penalty spot, but then reversed his wrong decision after viewing the video sequences. Ilzer had already made his judgment and showed the “swallow” gesture towards the referee.
Adeyemi’s comeback brings immediate momentum
Not much happened until the break, but Sahin sparked great joy among the BVB fans right from the restart: Karim Adeyemi, who had been injured for a long time, replaced Maximilian Beier and immediately caused a big alarm in the Hoffenheim defense. They were apparently still looking for a new assignment when BVB took the lead with a lightning goal: Nsoki passed a clearance attempt centrally to Gio Reyna, who finished with a full shot into the right corner.
Afterwards, Adeyemi had two dangerous shots, but narrowly missed the goal after his dribbles (51st/56th). That almost took revenge when Adam Hlozek went for a flying header after just over an hour. He was pushed hard and held on to his shirt by Karim Bensebaini, but since he still managed to finish, Osmers let the scene play out: double luck for Dortmund that the ball flew just over the crossbar and no penalty whistle was blown.
Gittens also falls too easily
The Dortmund fans would have liked to have heard him on the other side with a quarter of an hour to go. However, as with Guirassy in the first half, that would have been wrong: Gittens let himself fall too easily after a solo against Arthur Chaves, Chaves insulted him for it and Gittens retaliated with a hard push off the ball, for which yellow was just in Order went.
When everything looked like Dortmund would save the victory over time, Bruun-Larsen, who was retired from BVB, scored the late equalizer after an extended corner.
Dortmund in Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim against Gladbach
Dortmund travels to Wolfsburg for the away game (December 22nd, 5:30 p.m.). Hoffenheim welcomes Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday afternoon (December 21st, 3:30 p.m.).