After home game
BVB star sounds the alarm: “Incredibly bad”
12/16/2024 – 12:29 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Nico Schlotterbeck chose clear words. The ailing defense chief vents his anger after his team’s next draw.
In just four days, Nico Schlotterbeck made it from sick leave to Borussia Dortmund’s starting eleven – and in the end he was completely used. BVB was “incredibly bad” against TSG Hoffenheim, said the defense chief after the dismal 1-1 (0-0) draw on DAZN on Sunday evening: “That wasn’t enough, I won’t take myself out of it. We are Borussia Dortmund “If we can stay on top with a home game against Hoffenheim, then we have to win.”
Instead, BVB slipped to eighth place, eleven points behind league leaders Bayern Munich. “How we performed here in a home game with no energy is inexplicable,” said Schlotterbeck: “We also talked about that during the break, and it definitely got louder. But it hasn’t gotten any better at all.”
The team lost an “incredible number of balls” in the second half, “we barely got into the opponent’s half.” Nevertheless, BVB took the lead through Giovanni Reyna (46th), but received the deserved equalizer through Jacob Bruun Larsen (90th + 1).
Together, the team must now “address the failures in a tough way, hold their heads high,” said Schlotterbeck. At the end of the year at VfL Wolfsburg, a win next weekend is “definitely” a must.
The fact that Schlotterbeck was able to participate at all came as a huge surprise. On Wednesday he sprained his ankle in the Champions League defeat against FC Barcelona (2:3) in the last action, and there were also fears that he would be out for a longer period of time. Instead, he was now in the starting line-up.
“It was an extreme risk,” said the national player: “The physios didn’t necessarily give me the go, but they said that there was the possibility. And then I wanted to play.”