Borussia Dortmund got off to a successful start in the new Bundesliga season with a hard-fought 1-0 home win against Bayer Leverkusen. Newcomer Nico Schlotterbeck, who dislocated his shoulder in the second half, symbolized the resistance BVB had to overcome on the pitch.
The central defender played alongside Mats Hummels in BVB’s center of defence, and together with the veteran defender held together the back line against the strong Leverkusen attackers Patrik Schick and Moussa Diaby.
Schlotterbeck played with full physical effort and spared neither himself nor his opponents. Even a dislocated shoulder didn’t really upset the 22-year-old.
Lightning treatment from the BVB doctor in the players’ tunnel
What happened? After a duel shortly after the half-time break, the defender grabbed his shoulder in the 54th minute of the game and ran to one of the BVB team doctors in the direction of the players’ tunnel.
“I felt a brutal pull. The doctor said that the shoulder was out,” reported Schlotterbeck on the “Sky” microphone after the final whistle of the incident.
“Then we went into the players’ tunnel and he put her back in place. The doctor said to me that she’s back in there now. And gave me the green light to continue playing,” continued the newcomer from Freiburg.
BVB: Edin Terzic praises the defensive performance
In the period that followed, Schlotterbeck continued to fight in front of sold-out grandstands in Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park as if nothing had happened. sport.de gave the grade of 2.0 for the strong defensive performance in the Bundesliga debut in the BVB jersey.
“I’m a central defender. You’re a bit tougher there,” Schlotterbeck didn’t want to overestimate his brief injury break.
After the final whistle, BVB head coach Edin Terzic praised the fighting performance of Schlotterbeck and his teammates on the defensive , the spark jumped over to the grandstand.”