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BVB star Erling Haaland (left) cheers with winning goal scorer Ansgar Knauff
Photo:
CHRISTIAN KASPAR-BARTKE / POOL / EPA
The match winner:
do you know Ansgar Knauff?
If so, then you are probably a BVB fan - or a soccer nerd.
Knauff, 19, played his fifth game in professional football in Borussia Dortmund's game at VfB Stuttgart.
And pretty much his best.
In the 67th minute he came on for Marco Reus, in the 80th minute he scored to 3-2 and thus to victory for Borussia.
After his hit he slid across the lawn cheering before Erling Haaland buried him under himself.
Haaland seemed even more excited about Knauff's goal premiere than he was. After the game, Knauff gave his first Sky interview, looked a little shy and said: "Hopefully it will continue the same way."
The result:
BVB won 3-2 (0-1) in Stuttgart, click here for the match report.
In the battle for the Champions League, Borussia did not make up any ground in the Bundesliga.
Because the fourth-placed Frankfurt had previously defeated Wolfsburg, Dortmund remains seven points behind Eintracht.
The first half:
Dortmund had more of the game and after a good quarter of an hour two very dangerous finishes (Mahmoud Dahoud and Jude Bellingham, each in the 14th minute).
But VfB took the lead, Saša Kalajdžić headed the hosts in the lead (17th).
As a result, the Stuttgart could have added if they only played their counter-opportunities better.
But even from a four-on-one situation, they did not generate a deal.
The second half:
Borussia turned the game around within five minutes.
When equalizing, Giovanni Reyna let the ball bounce uncleanly in the direction of Bellingham, which technically processed the deposit and overcame VfB keeper Gregor Kobel (47th).
It was also the debut goal in the Bundesliga for Bellingham, 17.
Shortly thereafter, Reyna dribbled forward on the right, via Mateu Morey the ball came to Reus, who came undisturbed to the end and shot flat into the far corner (52nd).
Stuttgart was particularly convincing offensively.
Daniel Didavi scored 2: 2 after he had previously given Tanguy Coulibaly a big chance, which he negligently forgave, only to sink to his knees and bury his face in both hands (66th).
Then Knauff's hour struck.
Not hit, but still important:
He scored his last goal for BVB 270 minutes ago, if you add the international matches for Norway, Erling Haaland has not scored in six games.
That this is unusual only shows how great the expectations of the 20-year-old are now.
Haaland was one of the deciding factors against Stuttgart even without a goal.
Before the 2: 1 about.
He jerked his leg up to let Morey's pass through, it looked a bit wooden, but it served its purpose: Stuttgart's Konstantinos Mavropanos, who previously had goal scorer Reus in his sights, ran to Haaland because he would not leave the striker unprotected wanted.
So Reus was allowed to shoot unhindered.
And Haaland also put Knauff's hit on.
The most difficult goal of the day:
Stuttgart's Kalajdžić succeeded.
Before his goal to make it 1-0, he first chased the ball from Dahoud in midfield, played it to Mateo Klimowicz and then snuck towards the penalty area.
When Stuttgart's Borna Sosa crossed high and far to the second post, Kalajdzic climbed up, hovered in the air for a moment and then headed the ball in a high arc towards the long corner.
The ball fell into the goal behind BVB keeper Marwin Hitz, a header without force, without dynamism, nobody would call this 1-0 a dream goal.
But the technique, the timing, and the precision it required made it quite a difficult one.
And making difficult things look easy is an art.
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His goal was not enough: Saša Kalajdžić
Photo: Tom Weller / dpa
The turning point of the season:
Should have been the first leg.
That ended 1: 5 from Dortmund's point of view, then coach Lucien Favre had to leave, the inexperienced Edin Terzic took over.
The decision was difficult for those in charge, it was said at the time, but the achievement of the season's goals was "seriously endangered in the current constellation."
Only: Borussia has not gotten any better since then.
But weaker.
Under Favre, the team scored an average of 1.84 points in the first 19 games of the season.
Terzic stands at 1.74.
Since the change of coach, Dortmund has scored fewer goals on average (2.3 per game under Favre, 2.0 under Terzic), but conceded more (1.5 instead of 1.2 goals against).
Can the season still be saved?
The real goal, the Champions League, is likely to miss BVB, as a result of which it misses many millions of euros.
But: BVB can still win the DFB Cup, that would be the first title since 2017 (also the cup).
And in the Champions League, reaching the semi-finals is at least not an illusion, in the quarter-final second leg against Manchester City a 1-0 home win would be enough.
Whether that succeeds will be decided on Wednesday evening.
