Zero number against the concrete Bruges: BVB slips into the second round without force

athletic

Thursday, November 29, 2018

By Felix Meininghaus, Dortmund

Even if a tired Borussia Dortmund fails to convince the Belgian champions in Bruges, the world in the region is in order: the joy of entering the playoff phase of the Champions League prevails.

The minutes before the start of the match were reserved for the romantics of football. Kevin Großkreutz was welcomed on the southern platform of the Dortmund stadium. The fans remembered the time when the aspiring young professional had escaped from his club in Ahlen, Münster, to secretly honor his darling in black and yellow. The rest of the story is known: Großkreutz came down from the yellow wall on the lawn, celebrated magnificent success with BVB and could call since 2014 even a world champion. Meanwhile, Dortmund plays in Krefeld in the third division and can not help but spend free evenings in his living room.

The applause of Grosskreutz was hot, it was the culmination of an event that has no value of increased memory. There will not be much left of the fickle number between Borussia Dortmund and Brugge FC. When the final whistle was played in the Dortmund stadium just before eleven o'clock, BVB players met at the central circle to clap their hands. For experienced observers, it was difficult to see what their pointless draw against Bruges was like: relieved that this draw was enough to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League one game before the final group match. to reach? Or rather disappointment that this night is nothing to see the storm and the envy, with which this team plans otherwise for this season so much enthusiasm?

"We are in the last sixteen"

It will probably be a mix of both. At least that's what sporting director Michael Zorc said: "The first thing we can do for us is to qualify for the round of 16, but in general we have not done well today. they missed the ball. " This has been closely watched by the Dortmund veteran who has been working as a player and official for almost 40 years in his club. The coach Lucien Favre put things in the same vein: "We are in the last 16. That was the goal, Bruges was very low and there was a lack of speed and destabilization of the match with pbades or dribbles. "

What was true for the Dortmund collective in general was particularly evident in Christian Pulisic. The highly acclaimed American has been in a low form for weeks. That it is a breach, as it can happen many times to young players, or that the teenager has turned his head so-called high weekly offers of major European clubs, remains unfathomable. When Favre was asked how he wanted to put exceptional talent back on track, the Swiss answered evasively: "The competition is clear on his side, we have a very good winger." However, in a critical appraisal of Dortmund's performance, one must also afford to know why the enemy acted so destructively. Apparently, the champions of Belgium had not informed anyone that only a victory in Dortmund would have kept alive the chance to spend the winter in the queen category.

Swiss pragmatism

The fact that Bruges mixed concrete for 90 minutes and still played in time in the final phase caused a collective shaking of the head. Dortmund could live well with so little resistance, the publicly traded football company could generate more revenue in the tens of millions. Ten points after five group games on the credit side, "it's something," Favre said. In order to clbadify what has been achieved, it is useful to take a look at one year. At that time, the BVB was embarrbaded in the Champions League by all the rules of the art. At the end of the preliminary round, there remained two points of the matches against the Nicosia football dwarf on the credit side. The fact that the draw against Brugge FC is now taken into account with a slight roar is evidence of the growing conviction in the region. Favre is allowed on the credit side.

Borussia dominated with ball possession rates such as FC Barcelona at its peak, while Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and Lionel Messi circulated the ball at will. However, Dortmund seemed partially helpless against a partner who usually gave the ball to the center line to collectively re-bademble on his own penalty area and barricade himself. In the end, the statisticians counted 176 ball actions at Dortmund defensive boss Manuel Akanji, and therefore more than ever with a player from a German team in the Champions League. It was a better thing to show just how much such numbers can be misleading.

What are all the bullet points for, if they are presented with so little force and conviction that they barely evoke Torgefahr? The fact that the BVB has presented little of the youthful bravado that has won so much praise in recent months has been considered casually as a current indisposition. Akanji presented Swiss pragmatism in view of the Bundesliga: "It was not our best match, but today rather than the weekend".

Source: n-tv.de