3-2 – Borussia edge a tight match against Heidenheim | OneFootball

Personnel matters: Alongside Marcel Sabitzer (back), captain Emre Can also missed out due to illness. Niklas Süle, on the other hand, returned to the squad. Four days after the Champions League match against Inter Milan (a 2-0 defeat), head coach Niko Kovac made five changes to the starting XI, as Anton, Couto, Svensson, Adeyemi and Brandt replaced Ryerson, Bensebaini, Beier and Fabio Silva (who all dropped to the bench), while Can missed out completely. Filippo Mane remained in the team.

The match:With courageous, high pressing, Heidenheim put BVB under pressure early on, disrupting the build-up play and celebrated every Black & Yellow misplaced pass as confirmation of their own performance. Dortmund had a hard time finding gaps in the opponents, who were man-marking tightly and uncompromisingly. Corners led to a lot of pushing and pulling in the six-yard box.

And so it went until the 14th minute, before 81,365 spectators in the sold-out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK saw the first shot: for once, Guirassy had shaken off Mainka, but failed to beat the Heidenheim goalkeeper Ramaj from a tight angle. On 38 minutes, after good work by Brandt, Guirassy’s delicate chip struck the crossbar. Until then, there had been only two chances for BVB, and Heidenheim also had one, but Kobel denied Dinkci from eleven metres out in the 26th minute.

The eighth (!) corner finally gave BVB the lead shortly before the break. Couto floated the cross in, and Siersleben hindered his own goalkeeper, causing Ramaj to drop the ball. Anton reacted the fastest, making it 1-0 in the 44th minute. But at the end of the five-minute injury time period, Heidenheim’s Honsak made good progress down the left, Mane picked up an injury and had to pull up. Honsak’s cross landed at the feet of Niehues, who prodded the ball over the line to make it 1-1 going into the break .

Süle replaced Mane at the restart and shortly afterwards let Heidenheim substitute Arijon Ibrahimovic past him, whose back pass found Niehues, who hammered the ball goalwards from 22 metres out. Svensson got his thigh in the way, but the deflection gave Kobel no chance and the away side celebrated a 2-1 lead in the 48th minute. Ten minutes later, Marvin Pieringer was given the freedom of SIGNAL IDUNA PARK and could have added a third. Kovac responded, and instantly looked to get his side on the front foot: Beier replaced Couto, Chukwuemeka came on for Bellingham, with Brandt dropping a little deeper.

Within two minutes, the Black & Yellow had turned the game around. After Brandt’s cross, Guirassy was denied by Ramaj, and Nmecha’s follow-up from the resulting corner was cleared. But the VAR intervened: Dorsch had handled the ball after Brandt’s cross. Dr. Jöllenbeck pointed to the spot. Ramaj managed to get a touch on Guirassy’s well placed shot, but couldn’t keep it out – it was 2-2 in the 68th minute. Less than two minutes later, Brandt initiated a counter-attack. Beier stormed down the right wing, cut the ball back to Guirassy, who got a good connection despite being on his way down five yards from goal, and the ball found the corner to make it 3-2 on 70 minutes.

Five minutes before the final whistle, Guirassy could have put the game to bed early. Jöllenbeck did not hesitate to give another penalty after Busch fouled Guirassy. This time, however, Guirassy shot well over the bar, meaning the game was still alive. Instead, Ibrahimovic missed a chance to potentially make it 3-3 at the start of the eight minutes of injury time, but his effort whistled past the post. Then Mikkel Kaufmann grazed the crossbar in the 95th minute, but the guests did not manage to get the ball over the line, and the Black & Yellow.

Outlook:  After six games in three weeks to kick off the year, BVB have their first "normal" week of training of the year, which will end next Saturday with the away game at VfL Wolfsburg (kick-off: 15:30 CET)..

BORUSSIA DORTMUND – 1. FC HEIDENHEIM 3-2 (1-1)

Football Bundesliga, Matchday 20 Saturday, 1 February 2026, 17:30 CET

Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Mane (Süle, 46), Anton, Schlotterbeck – Yan Couto (Beier, 58), Bellingham (Chukwuemeka, 58), Nmecha, Svensson – Adeyemi (Fabio Silva, 69), Brandt – Guirassy (90+3 Özcan)Bench: Meyer, Drewes, Bensebaini, Ryerson

 1. FC Heidenheim. Ramaj – Busch, Mainka, Siersleben – Traoré (Schimmer, 80), Dorsch, Niehues (Schöppner, 70), Behrens, Dinkci (Kaufmann, 80) – Pieringer (Conteh, 80), Honsak (Ibrahimovic, 46)Bench: Feller, Föhrenbach, Beck, Kerber