BVB continues without a win away from home
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Borussia Dortmund once again disappointed away from home in a hard-fought but at times poor prestige duel against Borussia Mönchengladbach. At 1:1 (0:0), BVB remained winless in their sixth away game this season. Dortmund’s lead after a great individual performance by the in-form Jamie Gittens (65th minute) was countered by Kevin Stöger with a penalty goal (71st).
In addition, coach Nuri Şahin’s team was very lucky in the first half when referee Tobias Stieler did not award a penalty for Gladbach after a handball by Serhou Guirassy in his own penalty area. This is also why the Borussia duel ended without a winner for the first time in almost twelve years. Gladbach’s Tomas Cvancara, who had just been substituted, saw yellow-red in stoppage time (90+5).
The gap between fifth-placed Dortmund and the premier class ranks grew to three points. This is due to the poor away record of the previous season’s Champions League finalist: two points out of a maximum of 18 is the record of a relegation candidate. Gladbach remains in eleventh place in the middle of the table with 18 points from 13 games.
BVB initially seemed willing to improve their disastrous away record and took control early on. The Gladbachers, on the other hand, seemed strangely inhibited in their build-up to the game, played without any overview and also lacked passes or runs deep.
Things got tricky for Dortmund after 15 minutes with Guirassy’s handball, but video referee Tobias Reichel also didn’t classify this as worthy of a penalty. Shortly before, the Gladbachers had been denied a penalty when their former professional Ramy Bensebaini got on the foot of Franck Honorat.
Otherwise, Borussia from the Lower Rhine stood out mainly due to their technical deficiencies and poor passing game, which the Westphalian Borussia were unable to take advantage of. Marcel Sabitzer missed the best chance after just over five minutes with a shot past the goal.
After the excitement surrounding Guirassy’s handball, the duel became increasingly flat. Dortmund was also extremely clumsy in its offensive efforts and did not play as if the goal was to qualify for the Champions League again.
BVB is worried about injured Süle and Beier
After the break, Gladbach Borussia became bolder and took more and more control of the game. But BVB took the lead through Gittens, who scored in the third game in a row and smashed the ball unstoppably under the crossbar.
A little later, referee Stieler was once again the focus when he rightly did not punish an alleged handball by Bensebaini in the penalty area. Immediately afterwards, the video referee had to point out a clear foul by Pascal Groß on his national team colleague Tim Kleindienst. This time there was a delay in the penalty whistle. New signing Stöger, who was given preference over Robin Hack in the starting line-up this time, didn’t miss this opportunity and scored the deserved equalizer.
Particularly bitter for BVB: Both Maximilian Beier and Niklas Süle had to be replaced injured. Attacker Beier left the field on his own after 58 minutes with a knee injury. Central defender Süle, however, had to be supported while limping seven minutes before the end, as his previously damaged ankle was affected.