Guirassy cannot be stopped – BVB draws 0-2 against VfL Bochum

In an intense derby, VfL Bochum played against Borussia Dortmund for a long time. The guests had courage, a good game plan and a 2-0 lead – but BVB had a top striker ready to score.

From the start, BVB was clearly looking to make amends after the 1:5 debacle against VfB Stuttgart. Nuri Sahin’s side, with debutant Yan Couto, Emre Can and Jamie Gitters replacing Niklas Süle, Felix Nmecha (both on the bench) and the injured Marcel Sabitzer, looked in attacking mood. Karim Adeyemi from the header (10th) and Julian Brandt from 16 meters (14th) fired the first warning shots. However, Dortmund’s defensive shortcomings have by no means been eliminated.

And that’s obviously what Peter Zeidler was looking for. His team, consisting of Tim Oermann and Anthony Lossila, Erhan Masovic (now a father) and Lukas Daschner (surprisingly absent from the team), assumed the more passive role as expected, but still expected aggressive pressing moments and changes in circumstances.

This was also the case in the 15th minute, when Maximilian Wittek quickly initiated the play and played against Philipp Hoffmann. Thanks to a remarkable double one-two, Matus Bero was released, who fired the ball from 16 yards into the bottom left corner to make the score 1-0 – 0-1!

BVB reacted with uncertainty and made mistakes. Serious mistakes. Nico Schlotterbeck played much too high for Gregor Kobel, the goalkeeper managed to control the ball, but unnecessarily started dribbling against Myron Boadu and came under such pressure that he passed into the feet of the independent Dani De Wit. The Bochum player only had to push the ball from the edge of the penalty area into the empty goal – 0:2 (21st).

The Dortmund team quickly tried to correct the score, but they were too careless in possession of the ball and, above all, continued to be careless. The eye-catching Hofmann cleared all of BVB’s remaining defense with a simple through ball, allowing Boadu to run freely towards goal. Instead of making the score 3-0, he sends the ball in front of the area on the left side (33rd).

It was only shortly before the break that the home team’s attacks became sharper and more focused. After a short pressing phase, the connection followed immediately. Brandt crossed from the right, Serhou Guirassy deceived Oermann in the air and nodded to make the score 1-2 (44th). BVB was ready to follow up immediately – the halftime whistle came just in time for Bochum.

The Bochum team stuck to their game plan even after the break, but too often passed the ball back to the opponent too early instead of systematically finishing the few phases of possession. Dortmund’s pressure therefore increased. And it became too big for the passionately defending VfL. After an hour, Félix Passlack, previously extremely strong, arrived too late against Guirassy – penalty. Emre Can confidently converted to make it 2-2 (62′).

Anyone who thought VfL was going to give up was wrong. The visitors stayed in the game and the next chance presented itself: after a header, substitute Moritz Broschinski shot straight from eight yards, but did not touch the ball correctly, allowing Kobel to parry (64′). The VfL remained courageous. BVB had Guirassy. As if out of nowhere, the attacker was perfectly set up by Adeyemi after a long ball and deceived Drewes by a few meters to make the score 3-2 (75th). The game has turned.

Zeidler’s team now looked flat, BVB were liberated – Felix Nmecha made it 4-2 after another strong preparatory work from Adeyemi. However, his finish was more than tenable and slipped under Drewes (81st).

BVB now climbs to second place with ten points, at least for now, while VfL remains with a meager point and threatens to end the day in last position in the table.