There were strange impressions that remained after this intense and entertaining 1-1 draw between Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund. The league leaders from the Rhine, who have not won for only the second time in all competitions, were overwhelmingly superior in most phases of this game. In the end, Spanish coach Xabi Alonso’s team had 16:1 corners, 31:6, crosses, 24:6 shots on goal, but somehow it was even.
“This 1-1 is a bit bitter, Leverkusen had more of the game, but we led for a long time,” said BVB captain Emre Can. And in the last minute of injury time, Niclas Füllkrug also had a great chance to score the winning goal, but he headed just over the crossbar. “That was a fair result and we have to take that with us today,” said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic.
Dortmund played with a clear defensive mandate; their own pressing or high runs were not part of the plan that Terzic had come up with for this game. And the early leadership further reinforced that stance. In the 5th minute, right-back Julian Ryerson scored from close range to make it 1-0 at the end of what had been Dortmund’s best attack for a long time.
The preparatory work was done by Füllkrug, who provided valuable services in a number of situations as a lone passing point in BVB’s offensive. However, Dortmund attacks with potential remained rare throughout the season.
Julian Ryerson scores 1-0 for Borussia Dortmund. : Image: AP
“In terms of football, we can do better,” said Can. The Rhinelanders, on the other hand, let one wave of attacks roll after the next towards the Dortmund goal. But the Leverkusen team hardly had any clear chances, not least because Mats Hummels was omnipresent, as he was in the 1-0 win in Milan last week, and prevented a number of big chances with his tackles.
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Granit It was a game that was reminiscent of Leverkusen’s duel against SC Freiburg, who, with a similar defensive strategy, were closer to winning a point in Leverkusen than any other team that has played here so far this season.
In the 2-1 win, Florian Wirtz scored the winning goal with a brilliant individual effort and that evening too, Wirtz scored a spectacular goal with a shot that flew exactly into the corner of the Dortmund goal. But the video assistant canceled the goal because Victor Boniface was just offside when it was created (45′). “We played well and tried until the end,” said Xabi Alonso.
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Although dangerous shots on goal remained rare, the spectators saw a great football game: Leverkusen were dominant, Dortmund offered a brilliant interpretation of the classic strategy of an outsider, which also repeatedly included dangerous counterattacks. And one of these attacks ended with a duel between Odilon Kossounou and Karim Adeyemi, which Terzic, who was very angry after the final whistle, saw as a “clear penalty” that, in his opinion, should have been given to his team.
There were such attacks again and again, but at some point Dortmund’s strength dwindled and they were no longer able to cover every defensive path with maximum intensity, and so after 79 minutes, substitute Patrik Schick had far too much space in the Dortmund penalty area and crossed the ball to Boniface, who scored the equalizer.
Because of this late goal, Wirtz said that he was basically “rather dissatisfied”, but at the same time “happy that we at least got a point”.
