Hummels, Hummels - fight, fight

Icon: enlarge

Mats Hummels (left) takes Yussuf Poulsen out of the game

Photo: 

CLEMENS BILAN / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

Force of nature Haaland:

On the last match day in the 2-0 win against Wolfsburg, Dortmund's top striker Erling Haaland was still noticeable after a long injury break, the lack of rhythm.

That was different in the top game at RB Leipzig.

The Norwegian prepared the first BVB goal from Jadon Sancho (55th minute) with a run over the right side.

In the second, Haaland initially took on four defenders, put the ball out to the left and moved to the second post, where he headed in the following Sancho cross (71.).

A little later, the striker added another goal (84th).

The result:

Borussia Dortmund wins 3: 1 (0: 0) at RB Leipzig.

Chief Hummels:

When BVB lost 5-1 to VfB Stuttgart in December, defense chief Mats Hummels stepped in front of the microphones and passed a judgment that Lucien Favre could hardly survive.

Hummels spoke about the lack of automatism, too much risk, losing the ball - the coach was dismissed.

This week, Hummels concretized his criticism in a "picture" interview, he asked his team to gamble less, "as if we were in five-on-five games like the kids in indoor soccer."

Translated this means: fight, play hard, win duels.

First half:

The new BVB trainer Edin Terzić also seems to see it that way, because the Dortmund team played exactly like this for 45 minutes in Leipzig: tough, team-friendly, strong in duels, safe - always accompanied by loud Hummels commands.

However, this was done at the expense of the offensive.

This talented, strong team never shot at the goal of Leipzig goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi in the entire first half.

RB managed to do this three times, but on the other hand it wasn't really dangerous either.

A 0-0 of the tactical kind.

The Belgian roundabout:

There are three Belgian national players in the Dortmund squad.

Thorgan Hazard was not injured in Leipzig.

Axel Witsel was substituted in the 30th minute, he got stuck in the grass without touching the opponent and was unable to perform because of an Achilles tendon injury.

The third in the Belgian league got off to an extremely weak start, with Angeliño threatening to play Thomas Meunier dizzy.

Defensively, Paris Saint-Germain's access increased, but in the recent past hardly any BVB player has fallen as much as the rest of the team.

Icon: enlarge

Erling Haaland on the way to 3-0

Photo: 

EIBNER / Benjamin Soelzer / imago images / Eibner

Second half:

As if the first 45 minutes had only been there to lull Leipzig into safety, a completely different game began.

BVB combined, passed, pressed - and shot on goal (15 times in total).

In addition to Haaland and Sancho, captain Marco Reus became the decisive player.

Reus was often criticized recently, in Leipzig he showed his best performance of the season with two goal preparations.

RB was only rarely able to put itself in the limelight in the offensive, in the final phase the substitute Alexander Sörloth scored the consolation goal (89th).

Duel between the coaches:

Terzić did not manage to give BVB a new identity until the second half in Leipzig in the post-favre period.

This is also why there is a lot of discussion in the Dortmund environment about who could take on the coaching job next summer.

Mönchengladbach's Marco Rose is considered a hot candidate - but Julian Nagelsmann is also traded.

Leipzig's coach denied this cold rumor.

And Terzić collects arguments with such games in order to stay longer.

Winner of the weekend:

In the worst case, Borussia Dortmund could have gambled away the chance of winning the championship early on this 15th matchday.

If FC Bayern had won in Gladbach and BVB lost in Leipzig, the gap to the top would have grown to eleven points.

Now Borussia is the only team from the top six that has won.

After the home game against Mainz there are two away games in Leverkusen and Gladbach - at the latest then it will be clear where BVB is to be classified this season.

Icon: The mirror