Reaction to the 0:1 against Leverkusen: „Far from a good game“ | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund missed the chance on Saturday afternoon to mathematically secure qualification for next season’s Champions League ahead of time and lost 0-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen once again – just as they did in December in the last 16 of the DFB Cup. After their first defeat following four consecutive wins, the disappointment at BVB was naturally huge, also because of their own performance.

Speaking on the club website, Lars Ricken initially put the sporting side of things into the background and first addressed the events in the stadium: “Nobody needs a Saturday afternoon like that, with a resuscitation incident, which of course also had an impact on our fans, who have the awareness to respond with empathy,” said the managing director, who was quite satisfied with the opening phase of the match: “I felt we got into the game well and could have scored. Even though we didn’t have that many chances, we were extremely dominant.”

After that, however, Ricken was no longer satisfied and used clear words: “From the 25th minute onwards, we unnecessarily let the game slip out of our hands. After that, the intensity and power were no longer there, not in the second half either, to turn this game around. It was anything but a good game.”

Daniel Svensson, who spoke of a “disappointing defeat,” saw it similarly and made no secret of the fact that BVB were not at their best: “After conceding, we lost our thread a bit. We didn’t really manage to get back into our rhythm. Both with and without the ball, we were too slow.”

Kovac misses attacking threat

Like Ricken, coach Niko Kovac also referred to the drama in the stands: “We need the energy of this stadium, but because of this medical emergency we didn’t have it today,” said the BVB coach, seeing the unusual atmosphere as one reason for the defeat, but ultimately also as a kind of balancing justice for the somewhat fortunate 2-0 win away to VfB Stuttgart the previous week: “This was the kind of draw we could actually also have had against Stuttgart. Today we lost it, last week we won it.”

Photo: IMAGO

Even before conceding, Kovac noticed a negative trend in his team’s performance: “We did really well in the first 30 minutes and controlled the game. But then we already had a few simple turnovers, allowed Leverkusen more into the game, and punished ourselves with the simple loss of possession that led to the goal.”

Afterwards, the 54-year-old was particularly frustrated that his team failed to find the right solutions in possession: “The second half was difficult. We lacked penetration and tried too much through the middle. We should have gone much more down the flanks.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.