Borussia Dortmund: Marco Reus shoots BVB to victory at Union Berlin

As of 6:14 p.m | Reading time: 4 minutes

Nfter the 2:5 against Leverkusen, he unequivocally demanded a reaction. Marco Reus was angry when he stepped in front of the microphones and put his finger in the many wounds that the clear defeat had torn. The mood at Borussia Dortmund was bad and a quick turnaround was needed to avoid drifting into a fundamental crisis.

The fact that the reparation had to be made where BVB had never won a game didn’t make things any easier, but the team captain made progress after his criticism last weekend.

Led by the strong Reus, Borussia Dortmund showed a clear improvement and reduced the gap to leaders FC Bayern Munich to six points. The Dortmund captain scored two goals (18th/25th minute) for Borussia in the 3-0 (2-0) win at 1. FC Union Berlin, who, like against Leverkusen, had to do without top striker Erling Haaland. Raphael Guerreiro made it 3-0 in the second half (71st).

“We had a very restless week. But we don’t want to dwell too much on the past. We played very seriously and scored the goals, then defended in the second half. We showed a reaction,” Reus summed up.

In front of 10,000 spectators, the Köpenicker could not extend their impeccable record of two Bundesliga home wins against the second in the table and slipped out of the Champions League ranks on the 22nd matchday.

With sunshine and a blue sky, significantly more fans were allowed in the Köpenicker stadium than last time. The mood was almost reminiscent of the time before the pandemic. Union supporters shot with a banner against the idea of ​​​​master playoffs and Supercup games in Saudi Arabia.

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Both teams had to make up for a loss from the previous weekend, especially BVB after a hefty home loss to Leverkusen. Dortmund’s coach Marco Rose relied on more defensive stability and offered the Belgian Axel Witsel as a second six alongside Mahmoud Dahoud. In addition, Manuel Akanji played a nominal central defender on the right back.

“We didn’t have many players on the pitch against Leverkusen who were interested in counterattacking. Coupled with ball losses that were far too easy, that drove us to ruin. We didn’t listen to what the coach said,” said Mats Hummels.

And his coach was also happy about the successful change: “We wanted more stability and we did that well over long stretches. It was important and good today that we kept a clean sheet,” said Rose, relieved and satisfied.

Reus with the early brace

Sports director Michael Zorc had demanded a different approach from the team and BVB showed that: In the decisive moments, the second in the table was wide awake and physically robust. After a rebound in the Berlin penalty area, Dahoud reacted quickly and played the ball into the path of captain Reus, who completed the 1-0 goal through the legs of Union keeper Andreas Luthe (18th minute).

Seven minutes later, Reus was back with great commitment. After a long ball from Dan-Axel Zagadou, there was a duel between BVB attacker Donyell Malen and Union Bastian Oczipka. Both went down, Reus got the free ball, passed Luthe and pushed in. The 32-year-old’s first brace of the season.

“Marco’s greatest strengths are in and around the penalty area. And he also has special moments in counter-pressing. Then he can help us fantastically,” Hummels also knows. “Reuser is already a central player. He played a very good game,” Rose praised.

The Berliners, who also had to switch five times because of several Corona cases, found it difficult from the start to deliver a game at the limit similar to the two previous Bundesliga home wins against Westphalia. Starting eleven debutant and newcomer Sven Michel could hardly show his move to the goal. Stressing the opponent, as coach Urs Fischer had wished before the game, rarely succeeded.

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After the break, however, Dortmund initially gave up the reins. Union got into the duels better and increased the pressure. But Grischa Prömel (47th) and Sven Michel (65th) clearly missed the goal. In the 71st minute, Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham tipped the ball into the middle just before the baseline. Luthe blocked Malen’s shot, but Guerreiro slotted it in. It was BVB’s 35th goal of the season in the second half of the game – a shared high in the league with FC Bayern. Union almost made it 1-3 with a nice header from substitute Kevin Möhwald. However, the goal was disallowed because of an elbow push by Anthony Ujah against Ankanji.