Match winner Youssoufa Moukoko dropped to his knees and cheered with his arms raised. With his decisive 2-1 in the duel between Bayern’s pursuers, the 18-year-old Joker prevented Borussia Dortmund’s third setback in eight days against 1. FC Union Berlin.
Moukoko and the other Dortmunders ensured a new spirit of optimism in the title race with a not always brilliant but rousing energy performance. “We absolutely had to win to stay close to Bayern and we did that,” said Moukoko.
Despite the jubilation and party with the enthusiastic fans, the striker didn’t forget the topics of the past sporting horror days at BVB on Saturday. “In the end we have to get out of the hole as a team. And I think we started that today,” said Moukoko.
After the defeats in the Bundesliga summit meeting at Bayern and in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup at RB Leipzig, heavy criticism fell on BVB. Not a reasonable attitude, not there in the decisive moments – these were the accusations from those around them, but also from the club itself. “It was not the case that we were unfairly criticized,” said coach Edin Terzic. “We were able to show a different face today. We knew that it was necessary because we also wanted to apologize in a way for the games in Munich and Leipzig.”
Dortmund fights passionately
This was not only possible because of the narrow victory of the second in the table against a good third party from the capital. The Dortmunders played respectable football at times. But they also tackled passionately, took on opponents and referees and showed that they understood the seriousness of the situation in the fight for the championship as the last possible title. In the duel alone, there were worlds between the appearance three days earlier in Leipzig and the game against the Köpenickers.
The gap to FC Bayern is still two points after the record champions won 1-0 at SC Freiburg. The fact that the dream of the title is now alive after the sense of achievement was clearly noticeable to the Dortmunders. They didn’t even have to explicitly say it. “We wanted to start a series today. Now there are seven games left and four of them are still at home,” Terzic rejoiced, who had shown a good nose for Joker Moukoko.
Moukoko substitution hits
“The coach said to me, if you come in, then you decide the thing,” revealed Moukoko. Regarding his goal in the 79th minute, shortly after he got it in, when he sensed that Union’s Paul Seguin was going too short a back pass, he said: “It’s a striker’s instinct. You can’t learn that.” After the hit, Moukoko ran straight to Terzic and jumped into his arms.
When he came on as a substitute, he became the youngest player in Bundesliga history to make 50 appearances at the age of 18 years and 139 days. Looking ahead to the title fight, the celebrated man said: “We want to win all the games that are left and then we’ll see where we stand.”
