When asked about a spectacle that could be expected from experience, the Leverkusen trainer Gerardo Seoane demonstratively declined to do so in the Sky interview before the game. It is well known that too many goals were conceded at a spectacle, he said. And the question about an expected spectacle had also answered the Dortmund trainer Marco Rose refused. For coaches, spectacles are usually an accumulation of annoying mistakes. But there are these games that have to amount to a spectacle. And Bayer Leverkusen against Borussia Dortmund is such a duel. There was the next proof of this on Saturday.
In January 2015, this duel ended goalless for the last time. Since then, 49 goals had been scored in twelve meetings. Seven goals were added on Saturday: 98 adrenaline-pumping minutes of football, seven goals (plus one withdrawn), seven yellow cards, three packs and a bloody nose that decided the matter in the end. 17,605 spectators were happy that it turned out to be another spectacle in the end, the Dortmund fans a bit more than the Leverkusen fans.
Leverkusen had led three times (1: 0, 2: 1, 3: 2) and a total of 48 minutes, before Dortmund equalized for the third time in the 71st minute with a spectacular free-kick from Raphael Guerreiro and before the In the 77th minute, the spectacular scene occurred that decided this game, which was predestined for a draw, with 4: 3 (1: 2) for Dortmund.
Leverkusen’s central defender Odilon Kossounou and Dortmund’s attacker Marco Reus ran after a ball rolling into Leverkusen’s goal in the penalty area. A Dortmund goal chance could no longer arise so close to the goal line. The two players had one arm each entangled when at the last moment Kossounou’s left forearm shot up and hit Reus in the face.
“He hit me. It hurt. The referee whistled, so it was a penalty,” said Reus about the crucial scene
The whole thing had obviously happened too quickly for referee Daniel Siebert to see. Reus was lying in the gate and holding his face. Video referee Christian Dingert called in Siebert’s ear to report a foul. The camera that zoomed in on Reus showed blood on the BVB captain’s nose. In the TV interview afterwards, Reus wore a plaster from the bridge of his nose over the nostril, underneath which dried blood could be guessed.
“He hit me. It hurt. The referee whistled, so it was a penalty,” said Reus calmly. The clearly recognizable blow and the blood on Reus’ face were evidence of this. Sky expert Dieter Hamann in the TV studio was however upset and called the decision indignantly wrong, “because the hand movement in the face was unintentional”.
Erling Haaland converted the penalty that emerged from the scene to make it 4: 3. Previously, he had already scored the interim 1: 1 with his head. Haaland has now scored 45 goals in 47 Bundesliga games for BVB and 65 goals in 65 competitive games for Dortmund. However, this time he was not the number one topic of conversation after the game.
“A very, very wild game, a spectacle,” said Rose, describing his team’s victory on his 45th birthday. The Dortmund coach did not like three goals conceded and thus nine in the first four league games. “That’s too much,” he said. “We have a few things to talk about.”
“A great game for the audience,” said Seoane, describing the event. “That is exactly why we love this sport – but we coaches have a lot to come up with after a game like this.” The Swiss found it annoying, “after three tours, at the end of the day with empty hands.” Both coaches were very moderate about the penalty decision. “We accept it,” said Seoane. “As a fan you might think it’s wrong that a penalty is awarded in a scene like this,” said Rose calmly, “but the rules are there.”
A goal by Jude Bellingham is withdrawn after a long review
From Dortmund’s point of view, the game began rather restlessly and typically from a Leverkusen perspective: When Florian Wirtz scored the 1-0 lead for Leverkusen in the 9th minute after a BVB loss of the ball forced by aggressive pressing, it was already in the fourth game of the season sixth Bayer goal in the first quarter of an hour. With the tip of his foot he pushed the ball into the right corner of the goal.
Two crosses from the advancing Dortmund right-back Thomas Meunier made black and yellow shine for the first time. With a 1-1 head in the 37th minute, Haaland jumped Kossounou, who was fighting with gravity. The almost identical 2: 1 only two minutes later, in which Jude Bellingham’s head was still on the ball after Meunier and Haaland, was withdrawn after a long review, as Dortmund’s Mahmoud Dahoud had previously fouled Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby.
Patrik Schick used the favor in stoppage time in the first half to lead Leverkusen 2-1 at the break. After a ball loss from BVB central administrator Julian Brandt, the conqueror Kerem Demirbay bridged the midfield with an immediate long ball and found the player who then played Schick in Wirtz.
Brandt knew how to rehabilitate himself for losing the ball shortly after the break with the 2-2 in the 49th minute. But the recent draw lasted only six minutes. In the 55th minute, Diaby brought Leverkusen back into the lead – for the third time. The Dortmund team could have given up now, “but that we still shot it,” said Rose happily, “speaks for the quality of the offensive and the mentality of my team”. With these key qualifications, they completed the spectacle.
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