As in the championship final of the previous season, hosts VfL Bochum annoyed BVB again. Dortmund slept through the first half in the 1-1 draw on Saturday (08/26/2023) in the small Ruhrpott derby of the Bundesliga.
BVB keeper Gregor Kobel openly admitted after the game that he was quite dissatisfied: “We are Borussia Dortmund and we go into the games with certain expectations.” The Bochum team went into the duels extremely aggressively in the first half, fought hard and made it very difficult for BVB.
Bochum’s Kevin Stöger was satisfied and commented on the 5-0 defeat at the start in Stuttgart: “Okay, it wasn’t difficult to improve against that. Both teams can live with a point in the end – we showed that we are ready for the first division.”
Dortmund played pomadig and unimaginative
Despite the visual superiority with around 60 percent ball possession and the majority of duels won, the appearance of the almost champions on Castroper Straße was pomad, sluggish, defensive with sometimes blatant dropouts and offensively completely unimaginative.
Coach Edin Terzic had opted for a midfield with Emre Can, Felix Nmecha and Marcel Sabitzer and thus against a central creative player like Marco Reus – accordingly, the attackers lacked support.
Long shots, counterattacks and headers
Bochum relied on long balls, counterattacks and Philipp Hofmann’s strength in the air – and this repeatedly hurt Dortmund extremely. After a long shot by goalkeeper Manuel Riemann on the left flank, Maximilian Wittek let the ball bounce into Stöger’s path, Marius Wolf was completely wrong – and Stöger threw the ball into the far post with a full instep (13′).
Kobel didn’t look brilliant in the scene, and the BVB keeper would have been powerless in the 32nd minute – but then Hofmann headed the ball to the top of the bar.
BVB players tease each other
The passivity of the BVB players was noticeable in these scenes, and the dissatisfaction with their own performance was also reflected in the behavior of the pros among themselves: In the 41st minute, Ramy Bensebaini cleaned up Nmecha because a pass into free space was so long delayed until Bochum was sorted again. Shortly before the change of ends, Sabitzer gestured annoyed towards Julian Brandt because he lost the ball too stubbornly.
Surprisingly, Terzic did not react to the collective creative hole during the break: Niklas Süle for Mats Hummels was his only change.
Painting meets the balance
The game continued for ten minutes as in the first half, then Bochum, who had been defending passionately and consistently up to that point, suffered from a lack of concentration: BVB right winger Donyell Malen was allowed to position the ball unhindered on the edge of the penalty area, his low shot slipped under Riemann and into the goal . The keeper’s view was a bit obscured – but he didn’t look good at all.
Bochum seemed impressed by the 1-1, did too little forward and found little relief. After an hour, BVB was about to take the lead, but Nmecha failed to hit the outside of the post after Sébastien Haller had put it down.
Kobel and the post save the BVB point
However, the acoustic alarm sounded, Bochum woke up again and almost took the lead again in the 68th minute: Kobel deflected a Stöger shot deflected by Can over the goal with a grandiose save.
In the 86th minute, Bochum even took a two-to-one lead, but only after hitting aluminum: Long-time Dortmund player Patrick Osterhage hit the right post from 18 meters with another slightly deflected shot – so BVB was able to end with one point almost be satisfied.
BVB against Heidenheim, Bochum in Augsburg
Borussia Dortmund welcome newly promoted Heidenheim to kick off the third match day (Friday, September 1st, 2023 at 8:30 p.m.). On Saturday, VfL is challenged in Augsburg (3.30 p.m.).