Enlarge image
Erling Haaland was substituted against Hoffenheim with an injury
Photo:
Michael Weber IMAGEPOWER / imago images/Michael Weber
The inconsistency is one of the topics at Borussia Dortmund this season. In the top game they swept over SC Freiburg last week, during the week BVB was eliminated from the cup in St. Pauli. This inconsistency was also an issue at Hoffenheim, although they ended up winning. Because in the sixth minute, the team showed what they are capable of: Julian Brandt combined BVB wonderfully into the penalty area, fast, direct passes via Donyell Malen, Raphael Gurerreiro and Jude Bellingham literally broke up the Hoffenheim defense, and in the end Erling pushed Haaland into the empty goal.
Dortmund's problem: After that there was nothing to be seen of it, it was mainly Hoffenheim that played. Georgino Rutter (11') and Chris Richards (23') both failed from corners on aluminum, Andrej Kramarić equalized before the break after a mistake by Marius Wolf (45').
Because Hoffenheim remained dominant in the second half, Marco Reus's renewed lead for Dortmund was surprising (58'). It was only BVB's second shot on target, which was preceded by a mistake by Hoffenheim's Benjamin Hübner, who celebrated his Bundesliga comeback after a year and a half. The strong Malen made it 3-2 a few minutes later, and Hoffenheim's David Raum deflected a sharp cross into his own goal (66'). And the last goal of the day also belonged to Hoffenheim, but in the right goal: Rutter managed to connect (77th), but nothing more. The victory could be a bitter one for Dortmund: Erling Haaland apparently had to leave the field with an adductor injury.
For hardly any other team have the past few weeks been such ups and downs as for Borussia Mönchengladbach: a series of losses (and a 0:6 defeat against Freiburg) was followed by Adi Hütter's team, among other things, a win at Bayern before the coach after the cup in Hanover came under criticism again during the week. There was also bad luck against the strong Union: Denis Zakaria, whose contract is expiring and for whom Bayern, among others, are to apply, caused a penalty with an unfortunate handball: Max Kruse missed Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who played against Leverkusen in the past week had saved two penalties.
But it shouldn't stop there. Before the break, Breel Embolo launched an attack wonderfully, at the end of which Kouadio Koné curled into the right corner from the edge of the penalty area (40'). Gladbach missed promising chances in the second half (such as Luca Netz in the 78th minute) and got the damper that matched the previous games: Ex-Gladbacher Kruse scored in the final phase to win for Union (84th), that a Champions League rank jumps. For Borussia it remains with only one win from the past eight competitive games.
The Freiburg team of the hour recently had to put up with two setbacks in the Bundesliga. Above all, the 1:5 defeat in Dortmund showed that Christian Streich's team had only arrived in the Champions League in tabular form. And so the Freiburg team looked backwards against talented Stuttgarters who were unlucky this season: VfB should actually have been awarded a penalty (34th), but referee Tobias Stieler reversed his decision after viewing the video images. In direct return, it gave Freiburg the lead: Hiroki Itō unluckily deflected a shot from Nicolas Höfler into his own goal (37').
In the second round, Stuttgart pressed for the equalizer, but was countered: Kevin Schade made the preliminary decision (72nd) and ensured that Stuttgart remains penultimate after four defeats from the past five games.
Augsburg caused a stir in the past few weeks, mainly due to the draw, three of the last four Bundesliga games remained without a winner.
The Augsburgers would certainly have been satisfied with that in Leverkusen, but there was a mismatch between the Leverkusen offensive and the Augsburg defense early on: Leverkusen repeatedly separated the Augsburgers on the left flank, Mitchel Bakker put on the lead for Karim Bellarabi (9th minute). .), Moussa Diaby also scored after a sprint down the left flank (25').
Although Augsburg came close again through a mistake by Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukáš Hrádecký (and a dust-off by Arne Maier), a dream pass from Florian Wirtz, among other things, ensured the preliminary decision, which Diaby scored twice (65', 69'). Substitute striker Lucas Alario scored the end for Leverkusen with a back heel shot through the legs of goalkeeper Rafał Gikiewicz (81').
Under coach Bo Svensson, Mainz was the surprise team of 2021. At the end of the first half of the season, Mainz were in ninth place with a connection to the European Cup places.
After the defeat against Fürth, in which Svensson was absent on the touchline due to a yellow card suspension, the look should have to go back down for the time being.
One reason for this was Jeremy Dudziak's wonderful ball transfer, who accepted a pass so skilfully that he was able to insert the ball on the second contact to put the bottom of the table ahead (12').
Another that Mainz's Stefan Bell steered a sharp cross into his own goal (66th).
Mainz were no longer able to prevent Fürth's second win of the season despite Karim Onisiwo's late goal (90').
hba
