Reaction shown, minimal title chance preserved: Borussia Dortmund got back on the road to success at the start of the 29th Bundesliga matchday with difficulty and thanks to Julian Brandt twice. Six days after the 4-1 debacle against RB Leipzig, BVB won 2-0 (1-0) at VfB Stuttgart and reduced the gap to leaders FC Bayern Munich to six points for the time being. For VfB, on the other hand, it was a serious setback in the fight against relegation.
National player Brandt (12th, 71st), who came on as a substitute early on, scored both goals in front of 58,248 enthusiastic spectators in Swabia. VfB, who had not lost four competitive games in a row and missed a few good chances in the final phase, are 15th and only one point ahead of the relegation rank and can still slip to a relegation rank over the course of the weekend.
The small remaining hope of a close fight for the title had already been taken away from BVB before the game after the DFB sports court had rejected SC Freiburg’s appeal after Bayern Munich made a mistake. BVB coach Marco Rose had warned his team about a drop in tension at the end of the season after the staid performance against Leipzig – and his team tried to make amends from the start.
With the first dangerous action, exceptional striker Erling Haaland broke through from the left from a position suspected of being offside and put it across to Brandt, who only had to push in – after a short check by the video assistant, referee Harm Osmers gave the goal. Brandt had just come on for the injured Giovanni Reyna.
Three BVB changes before the start of the second half
BVB was also variable in attack as a result, but defensively vulnerable again and again. Omar Marmoush narrowly missed the equalizer when he lobbed too high from a tight angle (23′). Despite the absence of the corona-positive top striker Sasa Kalajdzic, VfB kept getting stuck in the Dortmund half, but lacked the final determination.
Rose then had to react again before the break, this time it hit Mahmoud Dahoud, who had an injured shoulder – Axel Witsel came into the game (36′), which flattened out a bit due to many interruptions.
The Stuttgarters came out of the dressing room with a flourish, Tiago Tomas missed a free kick from the half-field (48th). Dortmund tried to control the game, a shot from Reus (59th) whizzed past the goal on the right.
But the Swabians reared up again, Pascal Stenzel only hit the top of the bar from 20 meters (61st). An open exchange of blows developed before Brandt crowned his strong joker use. But Stuttgart didn’t give up, Borna Sosa (90th) hit the crossbar in one of the many opportunities.