Borussia Dortmund has expanded its impeccable home record and eased the sporting situation somewhat before the general meeting on Sunday. In the 4-0 (2-0) win against SC Freiburg, BVB won their sixth home game and remains a force at least at home. Maximilian Beier (7th minute), Felix Nmecha (40th), Julian Brandt (66th) and Jamie Gittens (77th) scored the goals for Borussia, who had to do without the ill Serhou Guirassy for a short time.
On the other hand, there was hardly anything from the weak Freiburg team, and to make matters worse, midfielder Patrick Osterhage saw yellow-red for repeated foul play (63rd) – and shortly before the end Junior Adamu (90th + 3) also saw red. This meant that the Breisgauers fell in behind BVB in the table.
After another weak away performance in Mainz (1:3), Dortmund wanted to show a reaction at home again. On the one hand, not to lose sight of the Champions League ranks. On the other hand, in order not to completely spoil the mood before the general meeting. But the reaction was initially only partially successful.
Borussia started the game furiously and took the lead after just a few minutes. After a fine pass from Ramy Bensebaini, Beier took the ball with a high level of technique and pushed it freely in front of the Freiburg goal to take the lead. Dortmund and coach Nuri Sahin celebrated the successful start – but nothing more came of it at first.
Unlike away from home, Dortmund have been a force in their home stadium so far, having won all eight competitive games here this season. But instead of pushing for the 2-0, the hosts kept getting lost in puzzling relays of cross passes. The ball passed back and forth between the central defenders and goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Until the Swiss made a serious mistake.
During the build-up to the game, he passed the ball into the feet of a Freiburg player – and then the guests had a strange triple chance. First Kobel fended off a shot from Vincenzo Grifo at the feet of Lucas Höler (24th), whose follow-up shot bounced off the crossbar back to him and his second follow-up shot was just blocked by Waldemar Anton.
But similar to BVB, the overall disappointing Freiburg team were unable to convert their mini-high into lasting superiority. The SC hardly got into the duels, and when they did, it was half-hearted at best. Like shortly before the break, when Gittens was not attacked on the outside and passed to Nmecha, who made it 2-0 with a long-range shot.
After his first international goal on Tuesday against Hungary, the national player followed up a few days later. Dortmund now controlled the game without much effort and were practically the winners after Osterhage was sent off. Shortly afterwards, Brandt sent a free kick into the goal to make it 3-0. Shortly before the end, Gittens followed up with a beautiful shot into the far corner.
VfB Stuttgart – VfL Bochum 2:0 (0:0)
VfB Stuttgart got in the mood for its next Champions League task with a victory and also exacerbated VfL Bochum's worries with Dieter Hecking. In the 2-0 (0-0) win against the bottom of the table, VfB defied their injury misery with a sense of success after three competitive games without a win.
National player Chris Führich with a remarkable goal (53rd minute) and substitute Justin Diehl (78th) with his first action saved the Swabians the afternoon in a long, tough game. This means that VfB, who will be visiting Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday, managed to make a new start before the groundbreaking weeks leading up to Christmas.
After the encouragement with the surprising point win in the 1-1 draw on Hecking's debut against Leverkusen, the Bochum team failed to take anything countable again. The bottom team remains with just two points and will now travel to FC Augsburg next weekend.
Without Deniz Undav, without El Bilal Touré, whose metatarsal fracture became official on match day, and Jamie Leweling, who had been injured for a long time, Stuttgart were missing important pillars in the offensive. Ermedin Demirovic and Nick Woltemade came into focus, but were unable to attract attention as goal scorers.
Bayer Leverkusen – 1. FC Heidenheim 5:2 (2:2)
With a fantastic comeback and a hat-trick from Patrik Schick, champions Bayer Leverkusen continued their successful streak in the Bundesliga. Three days before the important Champions League game against RB Salzburg, the Rhinelanders defeated 1. FC Heidenheim 5:2 (2:2) in a turbulent game after being 2-0 down and remain in fourth place after nine league games without defeat .
In the varied game, the guests took a 2-0 lead through Niklas Dorsch (10th minute) and Mathias Honsak (21st) in front of 29,103 spectators in the BayArena. But the follow-up goal from Exequiel Palacios (30th), a hat-trick from Schick (32nd/52nd/71st) and a goal from Granit Xhaka (82nd) gave Bayer victory. Heidenheim is stuck in the relegation zone after six games without a win.
As if he didn't have enough personnel difficulties, Bayer coach Xabi Alonso also had to do without national player Jonas Hofmann on the offensive for a short time, alongside Victor Boniface and Amine Adli. Alonso chose – as already tried and tested – the variant with three defensive midfielders and, in addition to Schick, ordered Florian Wirtz to the front line.
The Heidenheimers, who started for the first time without the German U21 international Paul Wanner, got into the game well and took advantage of a major mistake by Piero Hincapie to take the early lead. Marvin Pieringer beat Bayer's defenders on the right by winning the ball and laid the ball on for goalscorer Dorsch. Shortly afterwards, Pieringer failed with a shot past Bayer keeper Lukas Hradecky. After 28 minutes, the striker had to leave the pitch injured and Wanner came on to replace him.
The guests were better at the game, always a step faster and posed big problems for the champions. For the second goal, Honsak marched unopposed through the Leverkusen defense and finished. Only gradually did the defending champions find their way. First a shot off the post by Edmond Tapsoba, then the follow-up goal from Palacios, who scored from the turn and before the break the equalizer from Schick – the Bayer Express really picked up speed.
National player Wirtz in particular came into the game better and better and caused a lot of danger in front of the Heidenheim goal. In the 52nd minute he replaced Boniface's replacement Schick and the Czech scored to take the lead 3-2. Shortly afterwards, substitute Nathan Tella was unlucky when he hit the aluminum. Schick then crowned his performance with the third goal. He last managed a Bundesliga hat-trick eleven months ago. Xhaka scored the final point with a remarkable shot from the edge of the penalty area.
1899 Hoffenheim – RB Leipzig 4:3 (1:2)
RB Leipzig has fallen back as Bayern hunters and has given TSG 1899 Hoffenheim a promising debut from head coach Christian Ilzer. The Saxons lost 3:4 (2:1) to the Kraichgauers in a quick and entertaining game – they had led three times. Marco Rose had to accept his fourth competitive game in a row without a win in the duel between the two Austrian coaches.
Before the Champions League encounter on Tuesday at Inter Milan, captain Willi Orban (15th minute) and Antonio Nusa (19th) scored the goals for the RB team. TSG defender Stanley Nsoki scored an own goal in the 67th minute. Adam Hlozek (17th), Tom Bischof (50th) and again Hlozek (82nd) each equalized before joker Jacob Bruun Larsen (87th) even made it 4:3.
Leipzig are already eight points behind leaders Bayern Munich. After four defeats in the premier class so far, they are now hoping for their first sense of success at international level.
VfL Wolfsburg – Union Berlin 1:0 (0:0)
A month before Christmas, VfL Wolfsburg finally achieved their first home win of this Bundesliga season. A goal from Ridle Baku in the 71st minute gave the “Wolves” a 1-0 (0-0) win against 1. FC Union Berlin.
Although the season has been disappointing so far and the problems in the game have become apparent this time too, VfL is suddenly only one point behind the Berliners in the table and two behind a place in the Europa League. This is the declared goal of the Volkswagen Club for the season.
Nevertheless, VfL still has to improve significantly in order to live up to these ambitions. He also demanded a real test of patience from the 23,861 spectators in the Volkswagen Arena on Saturday.
Despite clear superiority and a ball possession rate of 69 percent at times, Wolfsburg failed to pose a serious threat to Berlin for at least 70 minutes.
A harmless finish from Tiago Tomas (25th), a blocked follow-up shot from the Portuguese (33rd) and a shot into the side netting by the eventual goalscorer Baku (37th): That was the only thing that happened in the first half after Wolfsburg's 45-minute run involved in somewhat dangerous actions.
The “Wolves” game under coach Ralph Hasenhüttl is based exclusively on winning the ball and switching quickly. If an opponent like Union with five defensive players retreats far into their own half and leaves the ball to VfL, they hardly think anything of it. This problem has existed since the start of the season. But the Austrian coach hasn't been able to stop it yet.
Hasenhüttl substituted Jonas Wind and the long-injured national striker Lukas Nmecha in the second half to provide a little more impact. The Dane Wind was also promptly involved in Baku's winning goal.
Union fans fight with police
Otherwise, the Berliners had the better chances in this game. Although they were only busy defending for a long time, striker Jordan missed a good header chance in the sixth minute. After the break there were further good opportunities for Aljoscha Kemlein (60th) and again Jordan (74th).
For Union it was an afternoon to forget – and not just because of the passivity on the pitch that was ultimately punished. Defender Diogo Leite had to be substituted early on with a foot injury (9th). And Berlin fans fought with the Wolfsburg police even before kick-off.
The argument broke out right at the stadium entrance for the away supporters, about which there are different versions on social networks. The police wrote of “physical attacks on emergency services, some of whom were slightly injured.” The fan support of 1. FC Union again reported an “excessive deployment of the police” and the use of pepper spray in the middle of a group of people.
pk
