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.
After the 6: 1 (5: 0) against VfL Wolfsburg, coach Marco Rose is hoping for a season finale with a lot of spectacle, not only with a view to the following league hit with the series champions. “Today was really fun and felt great,” Rose said after the Tor Festival. “There was a great atmosphere. It should become a kind of drug to always have this atmosphere.”
For the first time since taking office in the summer, Rose saw almost 80,000 BVB fans celebrating exuberantly in the Dortmund football temple. “We should turn this stadium into a fortress with fans again,” demanded the coach: “We managed quite well without fans. And then we messed up the first party. It’s all the better that the people this time go home happy.” Two weeks earlier, BVB suffered a 4-1 home defeat against RB Leipzig in front of full ranks for the first time.
Everything comes together
Suddenly everything went smoothly for the second-placed team on Saturday, and there were numerous positive stories: five goals in less than 14 minutes, for example, gave Dortmund the highest lead at half-time in their own stadium. The end of Erling Haaland’s goal drought after what felt like five games for him. And last but not least, the fantastic debut of the only 17-year-old Tom Rothe.
The teenager had scored 1-0 on his Bundesliga debut (24th minute) and the furious quarter of an hour with goals from Axel Witsel (26th), Manuel Akanji (28th), Emre Can (35th) and Haaland (38th minute). ) initiated. Haaland made it 6-0 (54th). “Talking about individual players doesn’t make any sense today,” said Rose after the collectively strong performance: “Except for Tom Rothe. And he doesn’t want that.”
With a twelve-point lead, only four games left and a goal difference that is 18 goals better than fifth-placed Freiburg, BVB have almost already booked the Champions League. And before the league hit after a season with early failures in three cup competitions, at least the core goal was easily achieved. From this point of view, Dortmund are now driving to their eternal rivals in Munich with significantly less pressure.
Haaland back on track in time
And Haaland, Dortmund’s greatest weapon, seems to have overcome the worst health problems on the ankle before the summit in addition to the goal doldrums. “He’s not pain free, but you could see he’s tolerant of the pain very well,” Rose said. The Norwegian only got into goal production when the game was already decided, but Rose recognized even more: “He played very well, gave us a lot of depth, was very present as a wall player and played the second goal well.”
And while Rose was so reveling in his team and his players, his colleague Florian Kohfeldt sat dejected on the podium. “In the first half it was a desolate performance in all respects that a football game requires,” he said: “It’s not possible, it was catastrophic. A blow to the neck was enough to throw us off track. And the problem is unfortunately not new.”
That’s exactly why Kohfeldt – after all 21 Bundesliga games in office – has to collect plus points for himself in addition to the two victories to safely stay up in the league 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.”