Florian Wirtz is missing against BVB: Bayer coach Xabi Alonso provides a surprising reason

Bayer 04 Leverkusen continues the hunt for FC Bayern from afar and storms Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion. There is currently a lot of fuss surrounding Florian Wirtz, the Werkself’s big star. But apparently he’s missing for terribly simple reasons.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen is coming out of the short winter break with great strength and is putting FC Bayern under pressure in the title duel. The Werkself won 3-2 (3-1) against Borussia from Dortmund, who were badly hit at all levels, and thus crawled within one point of the Munich team, although they can do so in the evening (6.30 p.m. on Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) pull away again in Mönchengladbach. For the first time in a long time, the Westfalenstadion fortress fell again. BVB last lost a home league game in April – and the last time they lost their first league game of the year was in 2004.

The greed for the title, which Bayer sports director Simon Rolfes recently saw returning in the RTL/ntv interview, showed its sharp teeth after just 25 seconds. Nathan Tella hit the ball into the BVB goal after a poorly played defensive action by Yan Couto. Most of the Borussia players in the stands were still grieving the loss of legend “Teddy” de Beer, the keeper had died unexpectedly at the end of the year and had left the club in a state of shock. In an emotional minute of silence, accompanied by a huge choreography on the south stand, his friend and stadium announcer Norbert Dickel cried.

Emergency-emergency defense is immediately taken by surprise

But then the game ran and Dortmund immediately fell behind. And BVB’s emergency-emergency defense – there is no other way to call it – the back four put together from the healthy remainders of the squad (Julian Ryerson, Yannik Lührs, Almugera Kabar and Yan Couto) – was undermined a second time, after eight For a few minutes, striker Patrick Schick, who has been in good form for weeks, was there. The Leverkusen team were ice cold and without their best man. Florian Wirtz sat on the bench after some confusion over various lineups that were circulating. What was going on was the big question?

And after cryptic clues before kick-off, it wasn’t answered until late at night because of something “internal”. Xabi Alonso caught all the rumors about a disciplinary action against the exceptional player. “No, no,” said the Bayer Leverkusen coach and waved him off. The opposite is the case, the national player is innocent: “He was stuck in a traffic jam on a bridge in Cologne, which always causes problems.” Wirtz and Exequiel Palacios even missed the team meeting as a result, then the Spaniard left them out of the starting line-up. He didn’t want to bring in players who he hadn’t previously given precise tactical instructions. He substituted Wirtz in the 63rd minute and Palacios in the final phase. This in turn raises the question: Why doesn’t Bayer say this directly?

At least: The team was unimpressed by the confusion and made it 3-1 after just 19 minutes. Schick was there again, after BVB had briefly hoped for improvement thanks to Jamie Gittens (12th). The high pace of the first 45 minutes remained during the break, Bayer let BVB do it and went for the final knockout goal. But it didn’t fall because Schick, among other things, failed while standing alone in front of Gregor Kobel. Things got exciting in the final phase because Dortmund were awarded a penalty. Edmond Tapsoba caught Julien Duranville with his hand in the face. The Borussia team ran and the fans did everything they could to support them. In vain. Bayer is chasing FC Bayern and BVB is already fighting for the season.

Sahin complains: “That’s way too easy”

After 16 games, Dortmund have only collected 25 points – the goal of the Champions League could quickly be in danger given the great competition behind the hasty duo Bayern and Bayer. BVB managing director Lars Ricken had already warned that they would score “significantly more than two points per game on average” for the remaining season. The average is currently just over one and a half points.

“I’m happy that I was able to help with two goals,” said match winner Schick on DAZN: “We didn’t care who played. We had a clear game plan.” BVB playmaker Julian Brandt attested to Bayer’s “huge quality, but I would say that we also have our share when it comes to conceding goals.” Coach Nuri Şahin also saw it that way. He argued: “That’s far too easy – even in this constellation in which we will probably never play together again.” He had to do without six players who were sick. Lührs was the only trained central defender still there. “Totally unusual. It was like a bad joke,” said Sahin about the failures. “I felt like I was getting a message every hour that a player was out.”