Press review, BVB vs Bayer Leverkusen: “Uninspired and sluggish” | OneFootball

As in the DFB-Pokal, Borussia Dortmund also lost at home to Bayer Leverkusen 0-1 in the Bundesliga. It was a match played in a strange atmosphere, according to the press, which above all accused BVB of lacking ideas.

The Tagesspiegel, citing dpa, wrote that BVB’s performance was “uninspired and sluggish,” and the day as a whole one to forget. Dortmund may have shaped the game in the opening half hour. “But Dortmund struggled against visitors content to sit back.” While Dortmund found it hard to create danger, Robert Andrich capitalized on a “devastating misplaced pass” by Ramy Bensebaini to put Leverkusen ahead.

The subsequent medical emergency in the stands brought silence to the stadium. Even with several substitutions from Niko Kovac, BVB could not regain momentum. Serhou Guirassy at least hit the crossbar, but otherwise BVB remained “bereft of ideas.”

Sportschau also mentions the 80 percent possession a dominant BVB had at the start; for a long time, the team was better, but ineffective. Leverkusen’s lead came as a “complete surprise.” In the second half, Dortmund increasingly fell apart, frequently getting as far as the penalty area — “but that was usually where it ended.” Here too, the verdict was: “lacking ideas and toothless in attack.”

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Second half “full of mistakes and lapses in concentration”

First whistles from their own fans against Schlotterbeck, then silence. Jonas Ortmann of the WAZ experienced a “strange afternoon” in Dortmund. The game, in which BVB missed out on early qualification for the Champions League, was “low on tempo for long stretches.” When the “ghostly atmosphere” created by the silence then spread onto the pitch, the second “half (...) was full of mistakes and lapses in concentration.” As BVB’s play became increasingly unfortunate, the mood ultimately turned into frustration as well.

The Rheinische Post viewed the game from the visitors’ perspective. The opening went as expected: “Dortmund started with more drive, Leverkusen initially got organized in their own half. The Westphalians played more energetically going forward (...) but they rarely looked truly threatening.” Leverkusen then grew more and more into the match and, especially after taking the lead, remained solid defensively. Dortmund, however, increasingly lost the thread. Borussia Dortmund looked “too rash, too imprecise, and above all without a clear idea.”

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