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LBorussia Dortmund gave its viewers in front of televisions long phases of desolation on Wednesday night in the torrential rain of October. As if wanting to end this day, in which the nation was informed of new sobering restrictions on fighting the pandemic, with the proper soccer game, they racked to a deep gray 2-0 against Zenit St. Petersburg. A penalty from Jadon Sancho and a late goal from Erling Haaland gave them three important points. However, the team’s performance was pale and serene until the finals.
“We often had the ball and we had to play fast,” said striker Haaland after the game at Sky. “We knew the opportunity was coming. In the end, there are three important points. We had to be patient, it is a very important victory ”. Coach Lucien Favre compared the defense of the guests to “two buses in front of the goal, it was very, very difficult.” And sporting director Michael Zorc said: “We are satisfied because we are winning the game more than deservedly.”
In the first half hour, Giovanni Reyna shot once from a good position in the goal, but he did so from 16 meters just off the post (15th), otherwise little happened for a long time. The Dortmunders could have used a dribble or room opener idea from Jadon Sachno, but the Englishman has been looking for form for weeks. “Deep, deep,” Favre shouted several times, his players did not seem to know how to implement this advice and began to argue more and more among themselves.
No rehabilitation
And like in these games, at some point your opponent also has a chance. Goalkeeper Roman Bürki underestimated the ball after a cross from the left, but Sebastian Driussi missed his header (35th). Burki had reverted to preference over Marvin Hitz, who was allowed to play three times in the middle of the month. Before kickoff, Favre once again refused to clarify who his number one should be for the next few months. But sporting director Zorc provided clarification when he said: “The story now has a very long beard. Roman was our number one and he is our number one ”. Hitz is also a good goalkeeper and has had quite a bit of match experience.
The goalkeeper position played a secondary role for tonight. BVB needs offensive solutions. For a long time Mahmoud Dahoud was the only one who at least occasionally had an idea, but his attempts weren’t really effective either. Only in the quarter of an hour before the break did the BVB game perk up a bit, Reus (39th) and Haaland (42nd) had chances, but this performance was never good as rehabilitation for the weak Roma game of the week previous.
As in the 3-0 win against Schalke, Favre had nominated four defenders and was able to feature an additional offensive player. But the plan didn’t work and, for the first time this season, there was also no crowd at the Westfalenstadion that could have given a boost. After some 10,000 spectators were allowed in in the first games of the season and 300 were allowed against Schalke last Saturday, this match took place in front of completely empty stands, which Hans-Joachim Watzke clearly criticized. “Like the city and health department of Dortmund, we have a completely different opinion because we are convinced and confident that we have a health concept that works in a verifiable way,” explained the Dortmund coach in the lead-up to the match.
BVB started the second half with a little more energy, Reus hit the post, but was out of play (48th). But this momentum quickly waned again. BVB played and played without change of pace and without inspiration, Dahoud again shot quite well from a distance, but most of the time this game was mostly: boring. They needed a penalty to finally take the lead. Vyacheslav Karavaev had dropped substitute Thorgan Hazard. Sancho converted confidently (77th), before Haaland even scored a second goal in injury time.
As for the pure result, the situation at BVB has now eased a bit with the victory against Schalke and this success against St. Petersburg, after the defeat of Rome last week caused a lot of disturbances. They get back on track in this group of the Champions League, which is undoubtedly one of the easiest. But in terms of football, it was a night to forget.
