Borussia Dortmund loses sight of FC Bayern | Sports | DW

Lost at home, conceding five goals and now nine points behind leaders FC Bayern – the 21st match day of the Bundesliga was not a happy one for Borussia Dortmund. BVB lost 5-2 to Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s Werkself in front of 10,000 spectators and couldn’t even complain afterwards. “The defeat is bitter. We never felt like we were in the game,” analyzed BVB coach Marco Rose, who had to do without the injured striker Erling Haaland. “Whenever it was our turn, the plug was pulled. It’s a deserved win for Leverkusen.”

In fact, the Leverkusen team played like they were hyper and dictated the game with fast, safe play and dangerous counterattacks. However, Dortmund was not without a chance: At the end of the game, the Black and Yellows shot more often at the opposing goal, had more possession of the ball, made more passes to teammates and won more duels. Still it didn’t help.

FC Bayern hastened after beating RB Leipzig

With Dortmund’s defeat, FC Bayern’s 3-2 win over RB Leipzig gained even more weight given the gap that had opened up in the table. Although the Leipzig gave the record champions a game at eye level, in the end the points stayed in Munich. “I think we deserved to win. Of course, Leipzig could have scored two more goals, but so could we,” said Bayern attacker Thomas Müller on Sky and was happy that fans were allowed to be in the stadium again. “When the ball is in, the light is flickering and the people are there – these are feelings that are worth working for,” said Müller, who contributed to the 1-0 lead and was thus in the all-time top scorer list in the Bundesliga with “headball Monster” Horst Hrubesch drew level. Both have scored 136 goals and are tied for 21st place.

There were minor worries among those responsible for Bayern on Sunday. Manuel Neuer had to undergo knee surgery and will be out “in the coming weeks,” the club said. Neuer was in good spirits after the procedure and sent an Instagram post from the hospital bed: “Hey guys, I had a small operation on my knee this afternoon. Everything went well.”

Gladbach missed victory in Bielefeld

“If we had played the counterattack better, we would have left the field as deserved winners,” said Mönchengladbach coach Adi Hütter after his Borussia’s 1-1 draw at Arminia Bielefeld. Overall, the Austrian was not dissatisfied with the draw, which prevented the fourth competitive defeat in a row. Gladbach seemed overwhelmed in the first game after the surprising resignation of sports director Max Eberl, but improved after the break. For Hütter’s future, the upcoming game will probably be at home against FC Augsburg. FCA proved that it might not be easy by beating 1. FC Union Berlin 2-0. Would it have gone better with Max Kruse for Union? “I can’t answer that, nobody can answer that,” said Berlin coach Urs Fischer. “There’s no point in discussing Max anymore because he’s just not with us anymore.”

Instead of the defeat in Augsburg, the ex-national player, who surprisingly switched back to VfL Wolfsburg shortly before the end of the winter transfer period, experienced a clear 4-1 win with VfL against bottom Greuther Fürth. Important points for the troubled “Wolves” and their coach Florian Kohfeldt – but Kruse did not score his own goal in the first game for the old club.

Cologne and Mainz win

1. FC Köln can still dream of participating in the European Cup, for striker Anthony Modeste was once again the match winner in the 1-0 win over SC Freiburg. The Frenchman scored his 14th goal of the season. However, Cologne, whose coach Steffen Baumgart was missing on the bench due to the corona virus, were lucky that a Freiburg goal was canceled because Nico Schlotterbeck blocked the Cologne goalkeeper’s view when he shot offside.