With a home win against RasenBallsport Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund temporarily took the top spot in the Bundesliga.
BVB won 2-0 (2-0) against Leipzig on Friday (March 3rd, 2023) and is three points ahead of Bayern Munich for at least one night. Bayern meet VfB Stuttgart on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m.). If they win, Bayern would be first again because of the better goal difference. Leipzig, on the other hand, remains fourth and could be overtaken by SC Freiburg on Saturday.
Marco Reus (21st / foul penalty) and Emre Can (39th) scored for Dortmund, Emil Forsberg shortened for Leipzig (74th).
Reus hits a penalty, Can with a deflected shot
The game started quickly, Leipzig had the first chance: Christopher Nkunku, who missed the goal (7th). In the 13th minute, Julian Brandt scored for BVB, the goal was withdrawn after the referee checked the monitor, Brandt put the ball in front of himself with his arm (13′).
A penalty kick gave BVB the lead: Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich fouled Marco Reus, who confidently turned the ball into the left corner (21st). After Marcel Halstenberg missed the equalizer with a header (35′), Emre Can increased for Dortmund with a deflected volley from 20 meters (39′).
Leipzig only manages the connection goal
The second half remained intense as well, André Silva shot just wide of the left post with his outside instep (48′). Leipzig then put pressure on the goal. But Silva failed to goalkeeper Alexander Meyer, who replaced the injured Gregor Kobel at short notice (70th), Dominik Szoboszlai shot just wide (71st).
Leipzig scored in the 74th minute: Xaver Schlager freed David Raum on the left, whose cross Emil Forsberg scrambled into the goal from close range. Leipzig still had great chances in added time – but Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck cleared a chance from Timo Werner on the line (90′ + 4), BVB goalkeeper Meyer parried a volley from Forsberg (90′ + 5).
There was no traffic chaos due to the public transport warning strike
Traffic chaos around the game was feared due to a warning strike in local public transport. On “normal” match days, around 30,000 of the more than 80,000 spectators travel by public transport. BVB had asked the fans to travel to the stadium as early as possible – preferably on foot or by bike.
“We are very satisfied”police spokesman Joshua Pollmeier told WDR. “There was no chaos. The people behave very calmly, many of them set off on foot early.”.
Dortmund first at Chelsea, then at Schalke
Decisive games continue for Dortmund: On Tuesday, BVB will be visiting Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 (9 p.m.). On Matchday 24, Dortmund then plays the Revierderby against Schalke (Saturday, March 11, 2023, 6:30 p.m.).
Leipzig will host Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday next week (3:30 p.m.).
Eberl defends player change from Salzburg to Leipzig
Leipzig managing director Max Eberl defended the numerous transfers from the Austrian first division club Red Bull Salzburg to RB Leipzig before the game. A few days ago, midfielder Nicolas Seiwald was announced – the 21-year-old will be the 20th player to move from Salzburg to Leipzig since 2010. In the end, he’s just trying to “get the best players to Leipzig,” said the 49-year-old on DAZN.
Eberl had been criticized for statements to the contrary when he was managing director of Borussia Mönchengladbach. “What bothers me about RB is this pushing of players from Salzburg to Leipzig and from Leipzig to Salzburg. That has a bad aftertaste for me because they basically have two squads,” Eberl said in a 2016 interview with Focus Online. “I said something about it as an opponent at the time. Seven years later, the world has turned in football,” Eberl now explained his change of mind.
Leipzig and Salzburg both have the Austrian beverage manufacturer Red Bull as their main sponsor. The stadiums of both clubs are called Red Bull Arena, the logos of both clubs each have two red bulls. UEFA ruled in 2017 that both clubs could compete in European competitions at the same time, as structural changes meant that no natural or legal person controlled more than one of the two clubs.