26 competitive games Borussia Dortmund played in the first half of the season – time for a review of the best, most spectacular and most frustrating encounters of a turbulent six months.
The best game: The league opener was impressive: Dortmund’s attack fell over Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 1 like ravenous termites over a mahogany cabinet wall. Marco Reus, Thorgan Hazard and Erling Haaland scored before the break, another goal by Reus was disallowed. After the break, Giovanni Reyna and again Haaland, who with three assists was involved in all of Dortmund’s goals in the 5:2 victory, increased the score. But what BVB showed in this game in terms of power, playfulness and ease, they repeated too seldom in the course of the first half of the season – perhaps also because the offensive was hardly ever on the pitch together in this constellation.
The most exciting game: After the first away game, which failed every year, this time a 1-2 defeat at SC Freiburg, the second home appearance against TSG Hoffenheim was a first test – and it had a lot to offer after a 0-0 draw at the break. Reyna took the lead (49th), Christoph Baumgartner equalised (61st), Jude Bellingham took the lead again and then a furious final phase. In the 90th minute, Munas Dabbur scored at the far post after a standard situation to make it 2:2. But BVB stayed in it: Haaland heaved body and ball into the penalty area and, after two strong saves by Oliver Baumann against Marius Wolf and Youssoufa Moukoko, drove the ball under the crossbar to make it 3:2.
The most spectacular game: But it was to get even wilder. In Leverkusen, the two teams engaged in an exciting exchange of blows on Matchday 4, with Bayer taking the lead three times through Florian Wirtz, Patrik Schick and Moussa Diaby. Haaland, Julian Brandt and Raphael Guerreiro with a direct free-kick equalised before Reus was brought down in the opposition penalty area when Odilon Kossounou shielded the ball. Haaland converted the fortunate penalty for the 4-3 winner.
The worst game: In Amsterdam, Ajax and BVB met as the clear leaders of the Champions League group with six points each from two games, the winner could virtually budget for a place in the last 16. However, the encounter became a turning point in the top flight: outclassed in terms of play, tactically overstretched and without physical resistance, Dortmund surrendered to the hosts’ attacking frenzy and could have lost more than 0:4 without a strong keeper Gregor Kobel.
The most disappointing game: Despite the defeats before, Dortmund remained a finalist in Lisbon, where a win would have been enough for second place. But in Lisbon, the visually superior BVB could not find its way into the opponent’s penalty area and made blatant individual mistakes defensively – such as the one by Nico Schulz before the 0:1. The still possible race to catch up was then torpedoed by Emre Can with a completely unnecessary red card midway through the second half, and Donyell Malen’s goal to make it 1:3 in injury time was only cosmetic for the result. Sporting were safely through, BVB were eliminated.
The game with the strongest mentality: Just three days after their elimination in Lisbon, the Black and Yellows took on Wolfsburg. For the game at VfL and in view of the top match against Bayern afterwards, many already feared an additional slump in the league, but BVB showed morale and attitude: Can via penalty, Malen and comebacker Haaland turned an early deficit by Wout Weghorst into a 3:1 victory, completely deserved.
The most frustrating games: It’s hard to grade the two defeats, the games against Bayern Munich and Ajax Amsterdam were too similar. In both games BVB took the lead, and in both the referees were criticised afterwards after unfortunate defeats. Against the Dutch, Mats Hummels was shown the red card for a harmless tackle in midfield before the break, and BVB only withstood the visitors’ constant pressure for 72 minutes in the 3-1 loss. Against Munich, it was mainly Felix Zwayer’s inconsistent decision-making that gave the record champions a hand-held penalty for the 3:2 victory, but denied the hosts a penalty for a tackle on Reus – allegedly offside beforehand. In the end, there were two defeats that were decisive in the respective competitions.