BVB grind out 2-1 home victory over Union Berlin

Second-placed Borussia Dortmund won their top match against third-placed 1. FC Union Berlin by a 2-1 (1-0) scoreline on Matchday 27 of the Bundesliga season.

Boris Rupert reporting

The 81,365 spectators at a sold-out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK saw a structured performance from Borussia Dortmund following a tough start; not a game of many chances, but one in which they deservedly – given their clear superiority – led 1-0 at half-time through Donyell Malen’s third league goal on the bounce in the 28th minute. The visitors levelled through Kevin Behrens with their first chance of the game after the hour mark, only for substitute Youssoufa Moukoko to score 11 minutes from time to seal the 2-1 win!

The scenario:
The “English week” was rounded off by two teams that had been eliminated from the cup going head-to-head. BVB went into the match in second position, with a two-point lead over the third-placed Berlin outfit. BVB boasted the best home record in the division with an average of 2.58 points per game. Union Berlin, meanwhile, occupied sixth place in the away table (six wins and two draws). All five of their defeats this season had come on their travels.

Personnel matters:
The Black & Yellows started the match without Schlotterbeck and the ill Wolf, but with the returning Haller and Adeyemi. Bellingham, Adeyemi and Haller were the three new faces in the starting XI compared to the cup defeat in Leipzig on Wednesday, replacing Wolf, Özcan and Reus.

Tactics:
With Guerreiro starting in the back four, Ryerson moved over from the left to the right of defence in Dortmund’s 4-1-4-1 system. Can, who controlled the build-up between the centre-backs after 15 minutes, sat behind a four-man midfield which boasted speed down the flanks in the form of Malen and Adeyemi. The goal was to get in behind the Union back five. The Berlin outfit lined up in a 5-4-1 formation off the ball but switched to a 3-3-2-2 whenever they went forward.

The match & analysis:
Barely 60 seconds had been played when Süle picked up a yellow card for a moment of carelessness. Kobel’s foul on Behrens, who had broken through, four minutes later did not result in a penalty because the Union forward was offside in the box when the ball was threaded through. The first glimpses of goal came through Brandt, who could not finish decisively after miscontrolling the ball (13), and Bellingham, who spotted Union goalkeeper Rönnow far off his line and went for goal from the halfway line (14). Shortly afterwards, Adeyemi went down in the penalty area without any involvement from an opposition player and was shown a yellow card.

BVB injected more tempo into the game after 20 minutes; they lacked the penetration they had hoped for but you could immediately see Union were no longer so well organised. And: Borussia were now playing with more confidence and patience. Malen won the ball on the right and Bellingham fed Brandt, who from a central position spotted the free space over on the left and fed Guerreiro, whose low cross was tapped home by Malen on the corner of the six-yard box for 1-0. BVB had taken the lead with their first real chance after 28 minutes. Guerreiro fired just wide of the left post five minutes later and then set up Haller perfectly with a great cross shortly before the break, but Rönnow’s defensive intervention was also outstanding (43). And so it stayed 1-0 until the break, with more possession (73%) and shots (6-2) for BVB.

BVB continued to look lively against the second-half specialists after the interval too. Haller’s flick played in Brandt, but the highly committed attacker carried the ball slightly too far in front of himself (50). Fouls from Behrens and Becker earned two yellow cards for the visitors.

When Borussia’s authority briefly waned, Union immediately struck. A long ball from the back into the Dortmund penalty area (Knoche) was headed into the path of Becker by Behrens, who instantly made space to receive the return ball and fired home from 14 metres to make it 1-1 (61). Brandt almost hit back with the goal for 2-1 immediately, but a defender blocked his powerful strike and turned it behind for a corner (63).

Having spent a long time out injured, Adeyemi made way for Bynoe-Gittens after 68 minutes, with Reus and Moukoko replacing Malen and Haller five minutes later. After being pegged back to 1-1, Borussia Dortmund applied pressure but did not play with the same clarity from before half-time until the closing stages. One of several dangerous counters led to Guerreiro tackling Becker at the last moment (71).

BVB went forward, but were mostly stopped by the time they reached the box at the latest. However, they got lucky. When Reus played the ball from right to left on the edge of the penalty area, Seguin’s attempted clearance went straight to Moukoko, who rounded Rönnow and tapped home for 2-1 (79).

It remained exciting. The team defended their narrow lead passionately. Following a counter-attack in the 90th minute, Bynoe-Gittens saw his shot from 16 metres out thwarted by goalkeeper Rönnow. That could have been the clincher. There were then four minutes of added time.

Outlook:
BVB are away to VfB Stuttgart next Saturday. Their next home game will be against Eintracht Frankfurt in 14 days’ time.

Teams & goals

Bundesliga Matchday 27
BORUSSIA DORTMUND 2-1 (1-0) UNION BERLIN

Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Ryerson, Süle, Hummels, Guerreiro – Can – Malen, Bellingham, Brandt, Adeyemi – Haller
Union Berlin: Rönnow – Jaeckel, Knoche, Doekhi – Juranovic, Khedira, Gießelmann – Thorsby, Haberer – Becker, Behrens
Substitutes: Meyer, Özcan, Dahoud, Reus, Moukoko, Modeste, Meunier, Bynoe-Gittens, Coulibaly – Grill, Diogo Leite, Trimmel, Laidouni, Pantovic, Seguin, Jordan, Leweling, Michel
Goals: 1-0 Malen (Guerreiro, 28), 1-1 Behrens (Becker, 61), 2-1 Moukoko (79)
Corners: 8-0 (5-0 at half-time), chance ratio: 6-1 (3-0)
Referee: Schlager (Hügelsheim), yellow cards: Süle, Adeyemi, Reus, Can, Bynoe-Gittens – Behrens, Becker
Attendance: 81,365 (sold-out), weather: cloudy, 10 degrees