Big battle in the Little Derby ends in stalemate

In the opening match of Bundesliga Matchday 30, Borussia Dortmund were held to a 1-1 (1-1) draw away to VfL Bochum in the “Little Ruhr Derby”.

Boris Rupert reporting from Bochum

The 26,000 spectators at the Vonovia-Ruhrstadion saw a heated derby that started in lightning fashion with goals from Losilla (1-0, 5) and Adeyemi (1-1, 7). Edin Terzic’s team gave everything and it was one-way traffic towards Riemann’s goal in the closing stages, but the goalie twice made stunning saves to deny Moukoko and Bellingham. Hummels did find the net, but it was ruled out for offside (90).

The scenario:
BVB travelled to VfL – who were winless in four rounds of matches and had lost four of their past five home games at Castroper Straße – as league leaders and the best team in the second half of the season. The Black & Yellows’ strong away form from the start of the year had faded slightly, with only one of their previous four away matches ending in victory – a 1-0 win at TSG Hoffenheim on 25 February.

Personnel matters:
The whole squad was available except for the injured defensive trio of Schlotterbeck, Meunier and Coulibaly. It was the same team that was on the pitch for the 4-0 win against Frankfurt after the early substitution of Schlotterbeck for Süle.

Tactics:
VfL transitioned seamlessly between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formations. Stöger, the central man behind centre-forward Hofmann, shuttled between the two holding midfielders and the forward. VfL tried from the beginning to let the game get “wild” and relied on long balls towards the quick wing players. Borussia played not only with the same personnel but with the same 4-3-3 system too and frequently overloaded the right flank.

The match & analysis:
The rain started to pour down at kick-off, which significantly accelerated the tempo on the pitch. Asano stormed down the right flank in the fifth minute and crossed sharply into the middle. The ball rebounded off Hummels’ shinpad and out of the box but went straight to the feet of Losilla, who fired it into the top corner from 18 metres out. Barely two minutes later, a run down the Dortmund right flank and a cross into the centre brought about the equaliser. Hummels played the pass and Soares’ positional error allowed Malen to get in behind. Haller touched his cross with the tips of his toes into the path of Adeyemi, who slotted home for 1-1 from the left corner of the six-yard box.

Like in the Frankfurt game, Adeyemi had two opportunities in the 26th and 31st minutes to complete a brace. After Bellingham had failed to beat Riemann, the Dortmund man latched onto the loose ball from 11 metres out but fired it wide of the right upright. Then Can played in Haller on the left of the penalty area and he immediately cut the ball inside towards Adeyemi, who did not hesitate for a second but dragged his shot inches wide of the left post. At the other end, Asano proved to be difficult to deal with. Kobel twice had to intervene to deny the Japanese (12/35).

BVB made increasingly better use of the little space that VfL did offer up. Hummels’ diagonal ball to Adeyemi found Brandt, who got the better of Riemann only for one of the defenders to clear it off the line (37). Malen failed to beat Riemann with a volley (40), while Hofmann went agonisingly close to making it 2-1 to the home team at the other end (43).

BVB’s first glimpse of goal in the second period came in the form of a doubly deflected shot from Bellingham in the 53rd minute. The game grew more chaotic, with numerous fouls on both sides. Borussia were determined to up the pressure as the rain poured down in Bochum, but found themselves up against the opposition’s fervent defence. An attack from Soares on Adeyemi went unpunished to the surprise of the BVB bench (65). Reus and Moukoko, who was denied by an outstanding save from Riemann seconds after coming on, replaced Brandt and Haller with around a quarter of an hour remaining. The Bochum shot-stopper made his next stunning intervention barely two minutes later when he saved Bellingham’s shot. Malen’s attempted flick flew narrowly wide of the upright (82) and Reyna fired over the goal (87). Hummels’ goal was ruled out for offside (90). Bellingham’s header was the last opportunity but it went wide (90+7).

Outlook:
Three of the final four games of 2022/23 will take place at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. BVB will kick off the month of May with a home double-header against VfL Wolfsburg (Sunday 7/5) and against Borussia Mönchengladbach (Saturday 13/5).

Teams & goals

Bundesliga Matchday 30
VFL BOCHUM 1-1 (1-1) BORUSSIA DORTMUND

VfL Bochum: Riemann – Gamboa (Janko, 78), Ordets, Masovic, Danilo Soares (Stafylidis, 85) – Losilla, Osterhage (Osterhage, 85) – Asano (Zoller, 78), Stöger, Antwi-Adjei – Hofmann (Broschinski, 70)
Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Ryerson (Wolf, 88), Süle, Hummels, Guerreiro – Can – Bellingham, Brandt (Reus, 74) – Malen (Modeste, 88), Adeyemi (Reyna, 81) – Haller (Moukoko, 74)
Substitutes: Esser, Holtmann, Lampropoulos, Heintz – Meyer, Özcan, Bynoe-Gittens, Papadopoulos
Goals: 1-0 Losilla (5), 1-1 Adeyemi (Haller, 7)
Corners: 4-11 (2-3 at half-time), chance ratio: 4-8 (4-5)
Referee: Stegemann (Niederkassel), yellow cards: Soares – Adeyemi, Haller, Terzic
Attendance: 26,000 (sold-out), weather: rainy, 15 degrees