The hope for the big happy ending in the fight for the championship is back at Borussia Dortmund. After the tough defeats in the Bundesliga summit at FC Bayern Munich and in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup at RB Leipzig, the 2-1 win against 1. FC Union Berlin should be the turn for the better.
Not everything went perfectly with the win against the third-placed player from Köpenick, but he still gave a lot of courage. “I think we can play football even better,” said sporting director Sebastian Kehl. “But I think we need the points above all. That was the decisive factor today. That was the right answer after a somewhat turbulent week.” Not only the result made Dortmund confident. There are other reasons for the rediscovered optimism in the title race with Bayern, who are two points ahead of BVB.
The commitment
After the games in Munich and Leipzig, a tiresome topic came up again at BVB: the mentality, the commitment was not right, was the accusation. Dortmund also won against the Berliners, who were particularly strong in this regard, because they showed the so-called basic virtues of football again.
The BVB players ran, straddled and won more duels than their opponents. “It was a fight victory. Such victories taste particularly good,” said right-back Julian Ryerson, who had played for Union in the first leg. “We had to invest a lot physically, so it’s really nice.” The performance of the Revierclub is a clear sign that Borussia have understood the seriousness of the situation in the title race.
The trainer
In addition to winning goal scorer Youssoufa Moukoko, Edin Terzic was also a match winner at BVB. In his 50th Bundesliga game as head coach, he won for the 32nd time – no other Dortmund coach had managed so many wins in his first 50 games. Terzic showed a good nose with the substitution of Moukoko. The striker, who had been unhappy about his bench position before the game, scored five minutes after being brought in. Terzic took the 18-year-old aside again, spoke to him and even predicted the winning goal as a joker.
The 40-year-old not only showed his skills as a moderator when dealing with his professionals. He also dealt confidently with the bitter defeats before the Union game. He assessed the situation realistically. Terzic didn’t embellish anything, took responsibility for himself and his team, but always pointed out that there was still a chance of achieving something. The coach has further sharpened his profile in recent days.
The alternatives on the offensive
Terzic also benefits from the fact that in the decisive phase of the season he has more variation options, especially in attack. The national strikers Karim Adeyemi and Moukoko are completely fit again and showed their class against Berlin. Sébastien Haller, who was out in the cup during the week, was also able to play again. In addition, Donyell Malen is getting better and better. The Dutchman has scored in the last three Bundesliga games and was one of the big assets in BVB’s attacking game not only because of his goal.
The game plan
A look at the remaining games in the final spurt of the season also encourages the Dortmunders. Borussia play four of seven games at home. That should be a trump card for the Bundesliga’s strongest team at home. BVB won eleven of 13 games in front of their own crowd. Dortmund also does not play against any team from the current top six in the table.
