An unimaginative Borussia from Dortmund has to accept a setback at 1. FC Heidenheim and is hoping for the quick return of some of its regulars.
Edin Terzic and Sebastian Kehl disagreed about the assessment of Dortmund’s next Rumpel appearance. “It was a step that was rather sideways,” said coach Terzic after the unimaginative mumble at the rebellious 1. Heidenheim, while sports director Kehl, on the other hand, saw the tired 0-0 draw with the brave newcomer as a “small step forward”.
To the live ticker: Heidenheim – Dortmund arrow right 20th matchday arrow right
Both Terzic and Kehl were aware: the zero number for Borussia, who had a severely weakened reserve, was a setback in the fight for the planned qualification for the Champions League. Like a team that is one of the best 32 or even 16 in Europe, BVB did not appear in the Swabian Alb. The first loss of points after three wins in 2024 was the logical consequence of a performance to forget.
“If you have to replace nine people, then of course it’s a bloodletting,” said Kehl. “In the end you can’t compensate for that, no team can do that. However, that’s not the only reason why we’re drawing here.”
Stephan Kersthold, Sportschau, February 2nd, 2024 10:28 p.m
Kehl “will not let development be ruined”
Kehl still saw a positive trend. “We have improved in the last few weeks,” emphasized the sports director, adding that BVB is playing “more flexible football.” Of course there is room for improvement, but: “I won’t let these developments ruin me.” Dortmund, assisted national striker Niclas Füllkrug, “doesn’t have to fall into a complete depression just because we draw once. Things continue.”
On Friday (8.30 p.m.) against Freiburg with a broader squad. According to Terzic, the regulars Gregor Kobel, Julian Brandt, Marco Reus and Jadon Sancho should be available again “at the beginning of next week”. Without them, Kehl said, Dortmund’s rump force in Heidenheim lacked “creativity” and “penetration power.” Hardly anyone, Terzic admitted, had even “come close to their maximum performance.” Disillusioned, he concluded: “It was far too little.”
Small service graciously with Dortmund
And that was almost punished. After a mistake by Salih Özcan in the build-up, Tim Kleindienst only had to shoot the ball into the empty goal from 14 meters, but it slammed past the left (14th). “It was a huge opportunity,” said FCH coach Frank Schmidt on DAZN, “the ‘expected goal’ value was not one, but two.” Kleindienst himself almost had his stomach turned when he went over the scene again later. “It just hurts to see something like that,” he said sheepishly, “it’s horrible.”
Sports show, February 2nd, 2024 11:00 p.m
And it wasn’t even the underdog’s only chance to win. In stoppage time, substitute Stefan Schimmer missed the lucky punch by a whisker and the ball rolled past the post. “If he does that, we can say that it was a deserved three points,” said Schmidt.
However, the always humble coach didn’t want to have much trouble after the seventh game without a defeat in a row. Rather, Schmidt saw the positive. “I never had the feeling,” he said, “that we were swimming.” A sentence that also gave Terzic and Kehl pause.