Borussia Dortmund

Boris Rupert reporting from Frankfurt

Sebastian Kehl (in the mixed zone): “I viewed the penalty incidents contrarily to the way they were ultimately decided. Perhaps it evened itself out a bit. We would have liked to decide the game in our favour and yet we must be satisfied with the point given the way the game went – trailing 2-0, coming back into it, the chance to turn the game around, trailing again. We were able to keep our run going because we didn’t lose once again, because we came back once again. In the case of Gregor (Kobel), I don’t believe that the injury is dramatic. He took a knock to the face. I can’t say anything yet about Mats (Hummels).”

Edin Terzic on the 3-3 draw in Frankfurt:
“I have very mixed feelings today. We saw a wild match with an extremely high number of scoring chances. We can play football better and yet we showed that it’s not so easy to beat us, even when we’re 2-0 down. We came back twice.”

The scenario: BVB travelled to Leverkusen in third place, while Bayer were in mid-table. The two teams had already gone head-to-head in the DHB-Pokal around one month earlier. BVB suffered a home defeat to the Werkself that day. 

Following their 2-1 victory away to Newcastle United, the A-Junior Bundesliga West leaders found themselves up against fifth-placed Düsseldorf. The BVB U19s last lost a Bundesliga match on 19 November 2019. The opponent that day was Fortuna Düsseldorf. Tullberg’s charges went on the attack from the beginning and took a 1-0 lead with only six minutes on the clock. Julian Rijkhoff converted a penalty for handball in his usual confident manner. The action subsequently moved more into the midfield, with BVB looking to attack quickly down the flanks. A sprint from Cole Campbell could only be stopped in the penalty area by a foul and Rijkhoff again converted the ensuing spot-kick in ice-cold fashion to make it 2-0 (22).

Unbeaten: BVB are unbeaten after 09 rounds of matches for only the third time in the club’s history (previously 2002/03 and 2018/19) and have five points more on the board (21) than at the same stage of last season.

Alexander Meyer (to DAZN): “It was a very wild match. We didn’t start well but we fought our way back. Shame that we couldn’t turn it around. But after being 2-0 behind, it’s a case of a point won. But it’s still annoying, we were in control. Those actions out of possession cannot happen to us. I had (editor’s note: in reference to the controversial incident) the feeling that I touched something. It happened very quickly. He got to the ball before me. I certainly had a bit of luck there.”

BVB coach Marco Lehmann had a bad feeling in the days before the battle of the Borussias, as Mönchengladbach coach Mihai Enache was able to draw on his full squad for the first time this season, while BVB had to do without Dzonga (osteitis pubis) as well goalscorer Diego Ngmabia, who is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Mussa Kaba, who was so impressive in the 3-0 win against Cologne, had to take an extended break from training and initially took a seat on the bench. Joshua Burstedde, who had also been doubtful for some time before the game, moved into centre of the attack, with Nick Cherny shifting to the left. Justin Hoy operated in attacking midfield alongside Fritz Fleck.

The scenario: Borussia Dortmund’s U23s had regained confidence with an impressive 3-1 win in Mannheim last time out. The Black and Yellows had won four of their last seven games, losing only once in that period. The away side had parted company with head coach Danny Galm after only one win from their past five games. Jens Keller took charge, bringing Bundesliga experience to the team.

BVB have won their the last five Bundesliga matches, and the Black and Yellows also won in the UEFA Champions League at Newcastle United on Wednesday. For that match, the team had to deal with three players who were struck down by injury: Julian Ryerson had not even made the trip to England due to an infection and Julian Brandt was ruled out before the match due to a muscle issue, while Emre Can had to be taken off due to an injury during the match. All three are yet to have trained with the team, “but are feeling better,” Edin Terzic said at midday on Saturday. The coach hopes that they will be able to make it through the final training session, and he will then decide who will make the trip to Frankfurt.