More honest work than intoxicating magic - despite a mixed performance at 1-0 over Freiburg, BVB remains in the title race. Incidents beyond lawn cause excitement.
Dortmund (dpa) - The trembling victory of BVB over Freiburg interested only marginally. More than about the sporting events at 1: 0 (1: 0) on the lawn, there was discussion about the swearing songs on the Dortmund South Stand against the Hoffenheim patron Dietmar Hopp.
SC coach Christian Streich put the incident, which almost led to the game being abandoned, into a larger context: "What has happened in this country in the past ten months, in terms of agitation, attacks on politicians, on Jewish institutions and now to a Turkish shisha bar, is extremely dangerous, "complained the football teacher," baiting against people is unacceptable ".
Like Streich, Michael Zorc also welcomed referee Robert Hartmann's approach to interrupt the game for a few minutes shortly after the start of the second half and threaten to stop the game. "So far, the Bundesliga has not got a grip on it. I think we have now reached a point that can no longer be tolerated," commented the Dortmund sports director.
Because of their repeated hostility to Hopp, the BVB supporters had recently been given a two-year away spell by the DFB for the games in Sinsheim. This controversial collective punishment triggered the renewed protests against Hopp and the association. Sebastian Kehl was glad that the referee did not end the game prematurely. "Of course that would be a disaster for us," said the Dortmund license player boss.
But even from a purely sporting point of view, the third place in the table only escaped a sensitive setback in the title race with good luck. Because, unlike in past home games with intoxicating victories over Cologne (5: 1), Union Berlin (5: 0), Frankfurt (4: 0) and Paris Saint-Germain (2: 1), this time the Dortmund gate factory revealed production problems. After all, Jadon Sancho was again reliable. The 19-year-old English top talent ensured with his 14 goal of the season (15th minute) that the Revierclub remained four points behind the striking distance to FC Bayern.
With a similarly poor performance, this gap could widen on the next match day. "Much more has to come next week in Mönchengladbach," said international Julian Brandt, referring to the chase duel on Saturday.
Within just six minutes, the Freiburgers had three opportunities to equalize. Jonathan Schmid (68.) missed the target, Vincenzo Grifo (70.) failed with a free kick to BVB goalkeeper Roman Bürki and striker Nils Petersen (74.) with a header on Dortmund defender Lukasz Piszczek, who cleared on the line. Midfielder Raphael Guerreiro saw it pragmatically: "It wasn't a spectacle today, but the result counts."
Despite the lackluster victory at work, Borussia went into the difficult games in Mönchengladbach and Paris with a tailwind as well as in the always contested district derby against Schalke. In the end, four competitive game victories go into series production. In addition, the team of coach Lucien Favre scored 18 out of a possible 21 points in the second half of the season. Kehl pointed to the upward trend: "We would probably have ended a game like this in the back series with a draw."
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