This time it was zero. After recent harsh criticism of the defensive weakness, BVB appeared surprisingly compact in the 4-0 win over Frankfurt. Tuesday will show how stable this progress is.
Dortmund (dpa) - The first loud cheers in the stadium were without a goal. When Dortmund's new signing Emre Can stopped Frankfurt's Filip Kostic with a tackle in his own penalty area in the 4th minute, BVB fans cheered similarly to Lukasz Piszczek's opening goal (33.).
With this action, international Can set an example. First work, then pleasure - that's what the last disastrous defense efforts should be about. The 4-0 (1-0) over Eintracht was therefore also a victory over their own doubts. "If we all defend together like this, it can get really big here," enthused Can.
In contrast to the cup-out in Bremen (2: 3) or the subsequent 3: 4 in Leverkusen, the defense could be relied on this time. This stability gave everyone more pleasure than the high number of hits again. "That was the reaction the team wanted to show. After two defeats, we had to deliver, and we did it today," said defender Piszczek.
In search of the right balance between defensive and offensive, Borussia made considerable progress and only allowed an opposing shot on goal. That had only happened once before on November 9, 2014, when we beat Mönchengladbach on November 9, 2014 - and was in the spirit of defense chief Mats Hummels: "With our quality offensive, we don't have to take full risks to have chances "The guys in front are so dangerous that we get chances in every game - except in Munich."
On the offensive, BVB has been at a masterly level for weeks. 63 goals after 22 match days are a club record. The mixture of compactness and enthusiasm shown in the duel with the Hessians gives Hummels hope for the first knockout round first leg in the Champions League on Tuesday (9pm / DAZN) against Paris Saint-Germain: "There were many good things today. If we take that with us , we will have a very good chance against Paris. "
In contrast, a successful streak of five competitive games without defeat came to an end for the Frankfurt team. Unlike the impressive 5-1 win over Bayern Munich at the beginning of November and the two successes over Leipzig in the championship (2-0) and in the DFB Cup (3-1), they did not prove to be a favorite scare this time. Especially in the forward movement, many wishes remained open. Coach Adi Hütter made no secret of his frustration: "That was a class difference today. We largely missed what has distinguished us in the past few weeks." Defense player Timothy Chandler saw it in a similar way: "We were too discouraged and ended in the end."
This setback was no good encouragement for the Europa League duel on Thursday (6.55 p.m.) with RB Salzburg. However, soccer teacher Hütter is confident that his team will draw the right conclusions from the Dortmund lesson by then: "I am sure that we will give a different picture in front of a sold-out house."
Quotes about the game on the BVB homepage
Voices about the game on the Eintracht homepage
Game facts on the BVB homepage