With Nico Schlotterbeck surprisingly recovered, but without a win in the last home game of the year: Borussia Dortmund missed out on a win against TSG Hoffenheim in almost the last minute. Coach Nuri Sahin's team, plagued by numerous injuries, couldn't get beyond a dismal 1-1 (0-0) on Sunday, with ex-Dortmunder Jacob Bruun Larsen (90+1) equalizing in stoppage time. After the third league draw in a row, BVB is now in danger of losing touch with the top team. The only good news from BVB's point of view: Schlotterbeck is ready for action again.
Giovanni Reyna (46th) gave Dortmund the lead, but it didn't last: Bruun Larsen scored and refrained from celebrating out of respect for his former club. With 22 points, BVB is only in eighth place. The gap to league leaders Bayern Munich is eleven points – even though the record champions suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday.
In Dortmund, the focus was initially on Schlotterbeck: When the national player's name was read out when the team lineup was presented, there was loud cheering. After all, on Wednesday everything indicated that the national player would be out for a longer period. In the last action of the Champions League game against FC Barcelona (2:3) he was badly sprained when landing after a header, Schlotterbeck was carried off the pitch – Sahin spoke of “terrible” images and feared that his defense chief could do so in the long term miss.
But just four days later, Schlotterbeck was defending again, although he initially had little defensive work to do alongside captain Emre Can. He was even more involved in the build-up of the game, but his passes to the front usually lacked precision. This also applied to his teammates, BVB took it easy in this last home game of the year – and repeatedly revealed coordination problems.
TSG could have used this more courageously. The guests often won the ball in Dortmund's half, but then did not exploit the situations decisively. The only excitement of the first half came from the other side: referee Harm Osmers initially awarded a penalty for Dortmund, but then reversed his decision. Serhou Guirassy had fallen all too easily.
The second half started brilliantly: Reyna took advantage of a Hoffenheim defense that was too short to score his first Bundesliga goal since May 2023. But the game didn't get much better. Returnee Karim Adeyemi, back after recovering from a thigh injury, delighted the audience with a solo. Apart from that, BVB continued to play sluggishly and Hoffenheim almost took advantage of this to equalize through Adam Hlozek (62').
