BVB vs. Sevilla – Three things that stood out: In the land of the yellow Hulk named Erling Haaland

The cheers of the Dortmunders could be heard in a part of the city further afield. At 10:55 pm it was done and BVB was collectively in each other’s arms. For the first time since the 2016/17 season (and a tragic night before the game against Monaco), Borussia Dortmund return to the Champions League quarter-finals.

A success that has a name above all: Erling Haaland. With his nine and ten Premier League goals of the season, he led Dortmund to 2-2 against Sevilla FC, which was enough after 3-2 in the first leg.

“It was a great fight, great progress,” Dortmund licensed players department head Sebastian Kehl said on “Sky”: “We are in the bottom eight and we deserve it.” The man of the match was a little less exuberant. “It was tough. I’m tired,” Haaland said, “but getting to the next lap feels good.”

Coach Edin Terzic, on the other hand, clearly knocked down several heart stones. “It feels really great. Going this far has not come naturally for us in recent years. Being among the top eight teams in Europe makes us very happy,” said the coach, who was replaced by Marco Rose at the end. of the season is replaced.

What we noticed in the second leg of the second leg in Dortmund.

1. BVB ties with Bayern game

For 35 minutes you rubbed your eyes in amazement: was BVB really as bad as Dortmund or Sevilla so good? It was seen: extremely poisonous and playful guests who played half of Borussia almost all the time, had 65 percent possession and the only defect that was not so dangerous in the penalty area.

From Dortmund’s perspective, you could see the continuation of the last 70 minutes of the Bundesliga’s biggest game on Saturday night, when Bayern defeated BVB 4-2 after being 0-2 behind.

Above all, you saw a terribly suppressed BVB team, feeling 9-0-1 at times, around the penalty area and only Haaland in front. There was hardly any preparation for the game; Dortmund hit the balls at random and could only hope for relief for a few seconds.

“It wasn’t a good start for us,” Terzic said: “We played one or the other stupid bad pass and couldn’t take any relief. One or the other wave came too much towards us. But we were ready. balls and defend the goal with all our hands. That makes us very proud to have survived this phase well. “

However, describing BVB’s leadership after 35 minutes as flattering would be grossly overstated. As in the first leg, the Dortmund team took advantage of the naivete of the Spanish, who are more vulnerable when they are careless in the construction of the game.

Haaland first used such careless action and soon after Thomas Delaney and Nico Schulz together to win the ball. Mahmoud Dahoud used Reus with a great pass, which in turn served Haaland no less wonderfully: 1-0 (35th), just as efficient as in Munich and a clear blow for Sevilla.

The Dortmund class on offense shone here and there, but very rarely overall. Even with a 2-0 back, BVB was not able to handle solid game preparation and have longer periods of ball possession (see Munich).

“In the end, it was super tight again, unnecessarily tight,” Kehl said. The combative attitude, however, was “absolutely right. We had some gaps in football, but that does not matter today. We played against a team with a lot of experience and in the end we deserved to continue.”

However, only 31 percent of ball possession and an indisputable passing rate of 67 percent were the lowest values ​​for BVB since detailed data collection in the Champions League (2003/04).

Dortmund definitely didn’t progress, but it worked.

2. Into the Land of the Yellow Hulk

Erling Haaland is only 20 years old, but he’s already hard at work on his own legend. The Leeds-born Norwegian is nothing less than Dortmund’s absolute superstar, and has already shown it in the Champions League with unsurpassed consistency.

“The game was decided by a player who will shape a new era. I’m sure of that,” Julen Lopetegui said after the game, the opponent’s coach, mind you.

Even against Sevilla, a lot at BVB was just the European average, but Haaland stood out again. Not only as a two-time scorer and “finisher”, who once again radiated cold as ice after Reus’ good preparatory work at 1-0 (35th).

It should not be overlooked that Haaland is not only lurking as a goal player in front of goal, but also conquered the ball 1-0 against Dortmund in the Sevilla half and only allowed teammates to advance.

How he then shook his opponent at the supposed 2-0 (49th) and scored the ball past the Sevillian goalkeeper from an acute angle, showed the enormous determination of the yellow Hulk. Meanwhile, the fact that he started repeating after a missed penalty (52nd) was a testament to both ambition and a sense of responsibility.

Not many had the courage to compete again, Kehl said. “Erling is our top scorer, he’s full of self-confidence,” Terzic said, adding that after all his exploits he of course believes his forward can “score from eleven meters.” The BVB forward has officially scored four goals with his last four shots on target, Bayern and Sevilla together.

In addition, Haaland only needed 14 matches to surpass one Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the Norwegian top scorer in the Champions League (20). A pro has never reached this younger and lower stakes mark, Harry Kane needed the top 24 like before.

Furthermore, Haaland is the first player to score twice in four straight games in the Champions League, not even Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi did it. “He is outstanding,” Terzic said happily: “We are proud that he continues to wear our jersey. We are happy that we were able to get him two more Champions League games this season so he can keep playing.”

3. Was VAR?

What happened in the opening minutes of the second half was ripe for the Muppet Show: Haaland was fouled (48th), scored 2-0 (49th), missed a penalty (52nd) and then scored from the point at 2: 0 (54) – and caused a bit of a commotion.

What happened? In the 2-0 (49th) assumption that Haaland knocked down his opponent, referee Cüneyt Cakir refused to acknowledge the blow after viewing the television footage. But because he was standing so well on the monitor, the VAR played him a scene from the previous minute, in which Haaland had been held in the penalty area by Jules Koundé: Cakir decided a penalty for Dortmund instead of a goal retrospectively .

Haaland did this and missed because of goalkeeper Bono. Play continued for half a minute before the VAR indicated to Cakir that Bono had moved both feet too early from the goal line during the parade, for which the penalty was repeated. Haaland didn’t give Bono a chance.

“He cheated, otherwise he would have taken the first penalty,” Haaland later said mischievously on “Sky”: “When he stayed on the line, I took it.” However, he admitted that he was “a little nervous” with the second shot.

Nervousness he discharged when celebrating the goal: Because Bono had yelled at him aggressively after the parade, Haaland did the same as the coach back and was run over by Lucas Ocampos. After the fight that followed, Haaland and Joan Jordán saw yellow.

“When he yelled at me after the first shot, he cheered me up,” the forward later revealed. “I don’t know what he yelled at me, but I repeated it after hitting.” Turbulent, turbulent.

By the way: Basically, Cakir’s decisions were all justifiable. Haaland’s physical effort on goal in the 49th minute would have been passed off as a not blatantly wrong decision, saving Cakir a wild five minutes. Then it wouldn’t have been so entertaining.

After the final whistle, Haaland and Bono reconciled again.