Mats Hummels rushed to Nico Schlotterbeck immediately after the final whistle, and for a moment the “wall” of Borussia Dortmund was in a tight embrace. Then the two outstanding central defenders from Borussia Dortmund, who are no longer needed in the national team, ran to the BVB corner – to celebrate the first victory at FC Bayern Munich in almost ten years.
With a ballet balancing act, a flying header, a tackle or whatever: Hummels and Schlotterbeck were mainly responsible for the fact that the Bayern bosses had stony expressions on their faces in the well-deserved black and yellow 2-0 (1-0) in the “Klassiker”. -Standers sat. The twelfth championship in a row is over with a 13-point deficit to Bayer Leverkusen.
BVB is not playing for the title this season anyway. But the victory at Bayern was important, so important, not just morally, but also for the race to qualify for the Champions League again in these tough weeks. “It’s only three points, but that gives you an enormously good feeling,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl, who had screamed himself hoarse, on Sky: “I’m proud of this team.”
Karim Adeyemi scored the first goal after a collective mistake by the indisposed Munich defense (10th), and Hummels in particular (“That was a very strong performance from us”) stood in the way of Bayern scoring again and again. “Both were incredible,” said Kehl about the Hummels/Schlotterbeck duo, “they show that they still have something planned this season.”
Julian Ryerson (83′) added BVB’s second goal, Harry Kane’s supposed connection (89′) was canceled due to an offside position.
The record champions appeared very erratic, played without ideas, a clear line and determination. Even Jamal Musiala couldn’t get anything done and was substituted after an hour. The fact that coach Thomas Tuchel took risks in the last half hour didn’t make things any better.
Dortmund, on the other hand, took advantage of their chance. BVB had a perfect template for the fight for fourth place thanks to Leipzig’s 0-0 draw against FSV Mainz 05.
However, there was at least a bit of luck with the opening goal: Sven Ulreich, who was replacing the injured Manuel Neuer, had a hand on Adeyemi’s shot from a tight angle – but it wasn’t decisive.
After falling behind, Bayern, who had started off with a flourish, seemed to have been knocked out. Dortmund were hard-working, courageous – and time and again revealed gaps in Munich’s midfield and defense. Bayern almost equalized – after a cross from Joshua Kimmich, a header from Kane whizzed past Alexander Meyer’s goal (23′). The Swiss represented his sick compatriot Gregor Kobel.
Apart from that, BVB was the better team because it was more solid. Hummels prevented a goal from being conceded with Eric Dier’s header (35th) with his foot and non-punishable hand – the defense with Schlotterbeck, who was also left out of the national team, left little chance of anything dangerous.
With the same determination on offense, Dortmund could have even extended their narrow lead. But when shots were fired by Felix Nmecha (52′) and Hummels (58′), Ulreich was on point. Jan Maatsen (65th) narrowly missed on a counterattack, Ryerson did better against pomaded Bayern.