VfL Wolfsburg – Borussia Dortmund 2: 0: BVB bites its teeth on the wolf defense

Borussia Dortmund lost 2-0 (1-0) at VfL Wolfsburg at the start of the English week early Tuesday evening. With the first bankruptcy after three wins in a row, BVB threatens to lose ground to leaders Bayern Munich.

• Micky van de Ven gave the Wolves an early lead after a corner (6′). Lukas Nmecha put the final point (90 + 2).
• At BVB, captain Marco Reus had to sit out with pain in his ankle after playing as a joker against VfL Bochum – not a good sign in terms of his chances of making the World Cup squad?
• Dortmund will play the last game before the World Cup break at home against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday evening, while Wolfsburg will travel to TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday.

VfL Wolfsburg – Borussia Dortmund: The analysis

At the start of the English week, BVB coach Edin Terzic only changes his team in one position, Karim Adeyemi replaced Giovanni Reyna in the starting eleven. On the other side, Omar Marmoush and attacker Jonas Wind started for Patrick Wimmer and Lukas Nmecha – Niko Kovac went for speed.

That paid off early on: VfL broke through the left side of BVB’s defense several times in the early stages and created good chances, the goal came from a subsequent corner. Dortmund didn’t play at all in the first few minutes and only took over after about 15 minutes.

Against the ball, the wolves were very deep and extremely compact in front of their own sixteen, Dortmund found it difficult to play on this bulwark. Only the agile Malen caused danger in the middle of the first half. Wolfsburg didn’t hide at all and caused danger with quick counterattacks and one-on-ones. At the end of the first and at the beginning of the second half, both teams missed several good chances – Niklas Süle hit the post, Gregor Kobel was able to distinguish himself.

Terzic brought fresh offensive powers with Reyna, Hazard and Modeste, there was hardly any relief for the home side. The Kovac-Elf continued to successfully close the center, the BVB crosses lacked accuracy. Jakub Kaminski (74′) missed a promising counterattack for the Wolves, Youssoufa Moukoko’s finish (82′) lacked accuracy. In stoppage time, Julian Brandt slipped away and the wolves put the lid on.

VfL Wolfsburg – Borussia Dortmund: The line-ups

VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – R. Baku, Bornauw, van de Ven, Paulo Otavio – Arnold, F. Nmecha, Gerhardt, Kaminski, Marmoush – Wind

Borussia Dortmund: Kobel – Süle, Hummels, N. Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro – Özcan, Bellingham, Brandt, Adeyemi, Malen – Moukoko

VfL Wolfsburg – Borussia Dortmund: The data for the game

Gates: 1: 0 van de Ven (6th), L. Nmecha (90th + 2)

Yellow cards: Nmecha, Marmoush, Nmecha – Hummels

The star of the game: Micky van de Ven (Wolfsburg)

Scored the opening goal with a header and held the place together at the back. Pass rate of 97 percent, plus a good duel rate.

The flop of the game: Raphaël Guerreiro (BVB):

Prevented the 0:2 on the line (32nd) when he was shot, otherwise mostly shaky defensively. Almost all Wolfsburg attacks went through his side. Unclean in the passing game and rarely present offensively.

The referee: Christian Dingert

Had no problems with the game overall. Justifiable not to decide on a foul in Salih Özcan’s rustic physical effort against Yannick Gerhardt in the first half.