As Adi Preißler once said: the bench is key… | OneFootball

At 20:23, Dortmund's fans’ nerves were jangling. At 20:24 came a huge eruption of joy from Dortmund. With their 29th shot on goal, after their 15th corner of the match, BVB finally forced home the winning goal. The guests had initially been able to fend off Julian Ryerson’s corner, but Nico Schlotterbeck sent the ball back towards the goal. Fabio Silva’s effort was blocked, but Maximilian Beier was in the right place at the right time and his shot landed in the goal for a very late winner (click here to read the match report).

The side from Cologne’s keeper Marvin Schwäbe, who had kept a clean sheet until the 96th with no less than ten (!) saves, was beaten. What followed was pure ecstasy. Goalscorer Maximilian Beier ran to the south-eastern corner flag – and was almost crushed by his fellow players seconds later. Substitute keeper Alexander Meyer was one of the first there, while goalkeeper Gregor Kobel sprinted across the field to celebrate with Beier and everyone else.

Am Ende zählten die Statistiker 30 Dortmunder Torschüsse und damit so viele wie von keinem anderen Team in dieser Saison (zu den Fakten). Die anfangs extrem gefährlichen Gäste – der beste Aufsteiger seit acht Jahren – kamen insgesamt fünfmal zum Abschluss, zuletzt in der 35. Minute. „Die Dortmunder haben uns erdrückt. Sie sind einfach zu gut gewesen“, konstatierte FC-Trainer Lukas Kwasniok. So glücklich der Zeitpunkt des Siegtreffers auch war: Der Erfolg an sich war hochverdient und unstrittig.

Fresh impetus from the bench

The decisive factor was the bench. Substitutes Marcel Sabitzer, Maximilian Beier, Fabio Silva, Julian Brandt and Jobe Bellingham all gave the Black & Yellows fresh impetus. “What makes me happy is the fact that our finishers, as I like to call them, who come into the game, give us more impact. Not only in Copenhagen, but also today. There is no drop in performance,” stressed head coach Niko Kovac (Click here to read the match reactions). And Maxi Beier added: “We are a team, and I think it makes us very strong this season that we can also bring quality off the bench.” That is the decisive difference compared with the autumn of 2024. “Last year, we had ten people injured at the time, so the team practically picked itself,” said Kovac. “At the moment, we are almost all healthy. And that’s why it’s all the more brilliant for me that I can always draw on our full strength.”

Being able to tap into that squad depth and rotate will make the head coach's task easier during these challenging weeks. On Monday, BVB will travel to Frankfurt, where the cup match against Eintracht will take place on Tuesday. Afterwards, they face an away game in Augsburg on Friday, before trips to Manchester and Hamburg the following week.

“An away game in the cup is always difficult, especially in my old stomping ground,” said Kovac about the challenge against Frankfurt on Tuesday (18:30 CET, live on ZDF and Sky [Germany]). “It will be hard work. We want to get ourselves in the draw for the next round. That is our goal, that is our ambition. We will have to pull out all the stops again.”