Updated on 02/25/2022 13:12
- With the elimination of the Glasgow Rangers in the European Cup, the cup season for BVB is already over.
- The game at Ibrox Park was like a decal of the season so far.
If Borussia Dortmund’s elimination against Glasgow Rangers If you want to understand, a scene just before the end of the game in Ibrox Park might help: There were still ten minutes to play, the BVB needed two goals to save himself in overtime.
Jude Bellinghamonce again one of the best on the field, drove the ball energetically through midfield, literally flew past two or three opponents and played the ball up Nico Schulz off and then accelerated again. Bellingham had spotted a gap behind the opposing midfield line, now all that was left was the pass and BVB had a good opportunity.
However, Bellingham sprinted in vain, his colleague’s pass caught in the legs of a Scottish player. Bellingham, still only 18 years young and already the leader of the team, was beside himself and probably a little stunned. The short sequence was a summary of Dortmund’s failure and probably also the entire season: Very good moments are followed by inexplicable dropouts and that’s why this season is already one to forget.
Rose: “We were very weak in the cup competitions”
The side are still on course in the Bundesliga and even have a chance of another title fight with Bayern – although that prospect is unlikely in a competition that rewards consistently strong performances more than any other.
In the cup competitions, however, there have now been three eliminations within three months, only from the Champions Leaguewhere that Minimum goal to reach the knockout stages was. then as the defending champion from the DFB Cup and now from the Europa League. Before Christmas, Hans-Joachim Watzke declared this additional opportunity to be a new mission, the team should win this one title – now it’s already over in the intermediate round.
“We were weak in the cup competitions this season, very weak,” said the coach Marco Rose admit in an interview with RTL. “We didn’t live up to our expectations, that’s very disappointing.”
A season packed in 90 minutes
Rose explained the end with “the rucksack that we still had on from the first leg”, where BVB steered themselves behind at 2: 4 and an inexplicably weak performance. Even Mats Hummels chose a similar explanation, BVB was not in Glasgow, but at home in the previous week Dortmund eliminated. That’s not wrong, but it’s not the whole truth either.
Because even a two-goal deficit could have been caught up in 90 minutes against this playfully limited opponent. “We had them in the sack in the first half, Glasgow were well served with the 2-1 win and we could have equalized there,” said Hummels.
“Then we come out of the half-time break badly, bring them back into play and then make my mistake,” Hummels alluded to his faux pas before James Tavernier’s 2-2 lead. “Then the stadium comes back, even though they were nervous before. We almost felt them before.”
The defense chief made a mistake when BVB was 2-1, Julian Brandt clumsily caused a penalty kick in the first half. BVB played a reasonable game, but then ruined their efforts again this season with their dropouts – and this time they didn’t get the quick help they needed from outside either.
No responses to Glasgow’s move
In the first half, BVB was able to play the opponent very well in their 4-2-3-1, found quick ways to advance in the build-up game and repeatedly passed stations in the preferred half-spaces. Then the Rangers switched to a 5-3-2 at the break.
Two pressing peaks made the deep Dortmund build-up enormously difficult, the Rangers were also able to secure the last line better and in midfield with the third midfielder cut the supply of passes into the half-spaces. And BVB found no recipe for it.
“The opponent reacted at half-time and switched to a five-man chain. It then took too long for us to find the right approaches and solutions,” said Rose, who had to take responsibility himself. After all, it would also be the job of the trainer to react quickly and practicably to the changed circumstances. So BVB hardly came close to the Glasgow goal dangerously and only had one and a half chances in the second half.
The cup season for BVB ended at the end of February. This not only means considerable financial damage, but also a lot of lost reputation: Borussia and the fans watch the decisions of spring from the couch, with the opponents of the group phase – FC St. Pauli in the DFB-Pokal and now the Rangers – with all due respect, no opponents on an equal footing.
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“Those are the competitions that keep pulling us a little bit and that’s what sticks,” said Rose. “Our very decent Bundesliga season will only come at some point in terms of perception and evaluation. And rightly so. It’s about reputation, but we were too weak.”
Sources used:
- kicker.de: The next exit and the consequences: “Influences the overall picture strongly”
Borussia Dortmund already disappeared from the Europa League in the second round – and again through their own fault. It does not meet BVB’s claim to fail at Glasgow Rangers. The reasons for the disappointing exit. (Teaser image: EPA-EFE/Robert Perry) © DAZN
