Dortmund (dpa) – For the fight for the title to flare up, Dortmund’s goal-seeking comes too late. At least as a fun brake at the planned championship celebration of FC Bayern, BVB could still be good.
Especially since top scorer Erling Haaland reported back in time for the summit next weekend. “He’s not pain-free, but you could see that he tolerates the pain very well,” said coach Marco Rose: “It’s getting better and better.”
In the 6-1 (5-0) goal festival against VfL Wolfsburg, the Norwegian first watched the others score goals. He then latched on to make it 5-0 and ended his dry spell of around 400 minutes, the longest of his BVB time. Euphoric, he made it 6-0 and stayed on the pitch for 90 minutes despite his ankle problems and the game, which was quickly decided after Dortmund’s highest half-time lead in their own stadium.
Rose surprises
Before the game, Rose had caused astonishment with statements about Haaland’s fitness. Even in my own club. “A bit unhappy” said the Dortmund license player boss and soon-to-be sports director Sebastian Kehl publicly. “Something must have broken in the foot,” Rose said. But you “can’t push the boy into the tube if he doesn’t want to. He bites his teeth, then maybe takes a pill before the game and then it should work.” It worked amazingly well – even away from the goals. “He played very well, gave us a lot of depth, was very present as a wall player and did a great job of scoring the second goal,” praised the coach.
However, it seems clear that Saturday’s appearance in Munich will be Haaland’s fourth-to-last in the BVB shirt. And that it’s not a prelude for Bayern. Munich’s CEO Oliver Kahn admitted in the Sport1 “double pass” that the 21-year-old was being dealt with. But also made it clear that the package of transfer fee and salary is “very, very far from what we imagine. These are financial dimensions that are beyond our imagination.” So Haaland, whose move to Manchester City seems to be taking shape, will probably play against Bayern for the last time on Saturday. That can also be a motivation.
“That was really fun”
The entire club is motivated not to want to watch Bayern finalize their tenth title in a row and celebrate the championship. In any case, Rose is hoping for a season finale with a lot of spectacle due to the interim goal frenzy against Wolfsburg with five goals in less than 14 minutes. “It was really fun and felt great,” he said. “There was a great atmosphere. It should become a kind of drug to always have this mood.” In addition, Dortmund can play a little more freely, because qualification for the Champions League has only been mathematically at risk since Saturday.
The mood in Wolfsburg, on the other hand, is at its lowest point again. “In the first half it was a desolate performance in all respects that a football game requires,” said coach Florian Kohfeldt: “It’s not possible, it was catastrophic. A blow to the neck was enough to throw us off track. And Unfortunately, the problem is not new.”
That’s exactly why the coach – after all 21 Bundesliga games in office – has to collect plus points for himself in addition to the two wins to ensure relegation before the season analysis is due. “Everything after the 1-0 was not suitable for the Bundesliga,” said sports director Marcel Schäfer: “Such a performance is not worthy of VfL Wolfsburg.”