Combat duel
There were six again: Borussia Dortmund suffered what was perhaps a decisive setback in the Bundesliga title race, which never really got off the ground. At the end of what was at least a perfect English week, BVB only drew 1-1 (1-1) at 1. FC Köln and is now six points behind FC Bayern Munich again. The series champion had won 4-0 against Union Berlin on Saturday. Seven games are still to come, including the direct duel in Munich on the fourth-to-last matchday.
Marius Wolf (8th), who was loaned to Cologne last year, actually gave Dortmund a tailor-made start in front of 50,000 spectators. But FC got a well-deserved equalizer through Sebastian Andersson (36th) and in seventh place – and rightly so in view of such performances – can continue to dream of moving into the Europa or Conference League. At BVB, on the other hand, striker Erling Haaland was denied the 17th goal of the season when he made his comeback after 57 days, just like after his two substitutions in the 1-0 wins against Bielefeld and in Mainz.
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BVB had the first chance of the game, but not Haaland, but the minutes before kick-off for Nico Schulz, who was injured during the warm-up, Raphael Guerreiro. His shot from the back after a corner was parried by FC keeper Marvin Schwäbe with two fists. A few seconds later, BVB took advantage of an opportunity: Cologne right-back Benno Schmitz was treated and immediately after the start of the game, Jude Bellingham passed Wolf through his side, who prevailed against Timo Hübers and didn’t give Schwäbe a chance. Schmitz then had to be substituted.
Fifteen minutes later, Haaland had his first opportunity, again after a pass from the strong Bellingham he narrowly missed (24th). But Cologne, as almost always, played vigorously forward under coach Steffen Baumgart. After 20 minutes, Anthony Modeste flew just wide of a Mark Uth cross, but the Frenchman then had his head in the game when he equalized: He extended a cross from Jannes Horn to strike partner Andersson, who had escaped Guerreiro and shot in from four meters. Six minutes later, the Swede headed just over the cross from Horn.
Ten minutes after the break, Haaland had a huge opportunity to make it 2-1 when he appeared free in front of Schwäbe, but the Cologne keeper made a great save with his left foot. The goalscorer, who is being courted by major European clubs and whose future is still open, usually does not pass up such a chance. Haaland was substituted in the 87th minute. All in all, Dortmund’s chances arose too much from individual good actions, BVB didn’t manage to build up any real pressure for most of the very competitive game.
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