Borussia Dortmund proud and grateful for a break after Club World Cup elimination | OneFootball

Both Bundesliga representatives were eliminated from the USA-hosted Club World Cup in the quarterfinals on Friday. While Bayern Munich’s defeat was mostly overshadowed by the horror injury suffered by German phenom Jamal Musiala, Borussia Dortmund saw matters come to a frantic end. Interestingly enough, virtually all BVB players took the 2-3 defeat to Real Madrid stoically.

Three goals scored in second half stoppage time nearly saw Dortmund complete a sensational comeback. Down 0-2 to Real Madrid for the full 90 minutes, Dortmund’s Maximilian Beier pulled a goal back at 90+2. A Kylian Mbappé dream goal at 90+4 then restored a two-goal cushion, but Serhou Guirassy managed to pull yet another goal back from the penalty spot at 90+8.

At 90+9, Marcel Sabitzer could have scored a dramatic late equalizer. Real keeper Thibaut Courtois nevertheless denied the Austrian with a great save. Dortmund would have gone into extra time a man up after Real’s Dean Huijsen was shown the red card.

After the crazy end to proceedings, BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl basically declared himself “satisfied with being among the last best eight clubs in the world” when speaking in the mixed zone. Kehl also declared himself grateful for a “short vacation“.

“Difficult to comprehend how that ended,” defender Waldemar Anton added in his mixed zone comments, “I would have liked to have seen what would have happened in extra time, but Real were deserved winners. We just weren’t good enough.”

“Anyone who saves a shot like that is a world-class goalkeeper,” head coach Niko Kovac remarked in his post-match interview with DAZN. “It wouldn’t have been entirely fair if we had turned it around. If you look at the first half, Real were much better. We were too passive didn’t win our challenges.”

“We can leave America with our heads held high,” Kovac added later in the media hall. “We represented BVB and Germany with dignity.“

“This has been an interesting experience,” Dortmund’s Julian Brandt noted when it came time to summarize the novel summer tournament before the microphones in the mixed zone, “but I have to be honest and say that there are a lot of players in our team who are really glad that there’s a bit of a break now.“

GGFN | Peter Weis