After the disastrous cup evening, Sebastian Kehl had his heart rate under control faster than one might have expected. The sports director of Borussia Dortmund stood in the blue sweater in the belly of the Leipzig stadium and dissectted the cruel performance of the self-proclaimed champion candidate in a calm voice.
Every word sat. “You have to say that we didn’t show the performance in London, in Munich and now here in Leipzig to get to the top,” said Kehl. The performance is inexplicable and “it will keep us busy for a few days and make us think”.
“Two neck blows” for Borussia Dortmund
Out in the Champions League at Chelsea, falling from the top of the Bundesliga table at Bayern Munich and as the low point of the three atrocities, the 0: 2 in the quarterfinals in Leipzig. It could also have been 0:6, BVB’s performance was so fatal, especially in the first half. “We didn’t resist,” said Kehl, summing up the bankruptcies in Munich and Leipzig within four days: “Those were two blows in the neck in a very short time.”
After Leipzig’s “fucking evening” according to coach Edin Terzic, one can of course question the team’s title maturity. Rather, it should be about the mentality, of which there was nothing to be seen in Leipzig. After the last three defeats, Leipzig showed a reaction of incredible intensity – and BVB surrendered to their fate practically from the first minute. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens shot at the RB goal deep in stoppage time – it was Dortmund’s only attempt of the entire evening.
The experienced top performers Marco Reus and Mats Hummels gave the mirror image of the team. Reus’ presence was noted in the 76th minute – when he was substituted. And Hummels, who was also substituted, showed more mobility and overview in a pack formation shortly before the end than in the 85 minutes of his mission. The fact that the 34-year-old looks clumsy at the first goal in Leipzig is a gift. Hummels himself should not understand that he played a cross pass in his own half unchallenged.
Of course it’s technically wrong to measure the performance of this team in a game. But if you sum up London, Munich and Leipzig like Kehl, you have to ask yourself whether BVB isn’t hitting the ceiling of its abilities here and quite rightly leaving the field as a loser. Exceptions to this are the excellent goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and, to a lesser extent, Jude Bellingham. It took the 19-year-old Briton to come on for something like a jolt to go through the team.
1. FC Union is now waiting in the Bundesliga
BVB still has a title fight left. The gap to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga is only two points. And on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / Sky) there will be a top game against Union Berlin, second against third. While Kehl was understandably overwhelmed with a concept for Union so shortly after the game, Terzic did not let his optimism take away. “We’ve already shown this season that we’re ready to learn from mistakes. If we manage to build on the things that have made us strong, then we’ll have the opportunity to celebrate a title,” said the 40 -year-olds.
As a blustering challenger to Bayern, Terzic was understandably unappealing. In view of the performance, he did not want to discuss the possible win of the championship trophy. “It would be presumptuous to talk about it. We have to put it straight in terms of performance first,” said Terzic. On paper, the record in the league is still good, they only lost one game in 2023. Viewed across all competitions, Dortmund has only won one of the last five games.
