A merry Christmas

There was snow, presents and fans singing “Jingle Bells”. The first home game after the break turned out to be a belated Christmas celebration. In subzero conditions, the FC Bayern Munich were the three kings leaving three points in Dortmund instead of olibanum, myrrh and gold.


It did not look promising in the run-up to the game. It remained unclear whether Borussia had been able to recollect themselves in the meantime. How much positive influence could Jürgen Röber, the new coach already have had? The performance in the friendlies had been poor. Sebastian Kehl, who has been out of play since August when he was injured in a sliding tackle by Munich’s Hassan Salihamidzic (who was welcomed everything but warmly), was still missing. So did defender Christian Wörns (rapture of muscle fiber in the calf). His place was taken by Markus Brzenska. As usual in confrontations with the record-holding German champs from the South, keeper Oliver Kahn was greeted with a shower of bananas, which he did want to dispose on his own, as it had been before. Some stewards did the job for him
After the quarrels during and after the last match versus Leverkusen when BVB fans ridiculed their own team, one task for the evening was to regain the crowd’s sympathies and support. Accordingly, Jürgen Röber promised in the stadium magazine to “play a style the people want to see”. The announcement became reality. It was teamwork and commitment that built the basis for Borussia’s lead. After a nice combination on the left wing, snow-hater Dede chipped a fine cross in, small Bayern defender Philipp Lahm was not close enough with Alex Frei, who scored with a beautiful header (12th minute). Despite the low temperatures, Westfalenstadion became hot as hell.
The second half of the Bundesliga season was now really on. The action, after it had shifted quickly from both teams’ boxes, now took place mainly around Roman Weidenfeller’s goal. Most of the time Christoph Metzelder, replacement captain for Wörns, got his defense standing well but they reached out of their own half fewer and fewer. The pressure increased and after a poking in front of Weidenfeller, van Buyten was able to score (25th minute). Black and yellow attacks proved dangerous every once in a while, but were disarmed by Oliver Kahn. It was obvious that offensive midfielder Steven Pienaar, recently often criticized, was motivated and played some nice passes. He was also cautioned by Germany’s worst referee, Mauel Gräfe, for a foul. Tinga played a good part as well.
When half time was already near, Roy Makaay did what he has done so many times before: score against Dortmund. In total it was already his 7th goal in six games against BVB. This time the Dutch profited from a misunderstanding between Brzenska and Weidenfeller. He kicked the ball through the stunned keeper’s legs and everything seemed to go the usual way against FCB. Though it was not his fault, Weidenfeller did not have his best day and showed unknown insecurities throughout the whole matchup. Both teams received applause after the first 45 minutes.
After the break, Röber had to replace Ebi Smolarek with Nelson Valdez due to an injury. The Paraguayan started motivated as usual. Those who had not given a cent on Borussia’s comeback had misjudged it all. Like Rocky Balboa, who is now in his sixties, the glorious club in black and yellow returned into the game. The equalizer was a header by Alex Frei, again after a cross by Dede (57th). The Swiss forward underlined his importance once more. The crowd was back on the scene. All four stands joined the chants occasionally, something witnessed rather seldom in Westfalenstadion. Two minutes later, it was again Alex Frei who put pressure on the Bayern goal. His header, after a fine corner by Kruska, bounced off Ali Karimi and Tinga could push the ball into the net easily. Turnaround! The Bavarians did not manage to get back into the game again – and Dortmund did not let them. A very disciplined and concentrated style let them reach the final whistle without harm.
More of that! Success as consequence of passion, teamspirit and will. What worked well against a disappointing squad from Munich should be working against Mainz on Wednesday when we will all see what this victory is worth. Nobody should be too enthusiastic now but a basis for an attractive second half of the season could have been built.
Jürgen Röber: Right from the beginning we showed, that we want to make the people forget the first round.We started great into the match and if you see, how we got the goals who could talk of an perfect start into the second half of the series. I have to give a big complimente to the team. If you lay back 1:2 against Bayern and show such an reaction. Certainly that wasn't to easy. During the break I told the players to continue to play like in the first half und prevent by all means to be pushed in our own half. And the team did as they were told. During practicing I realized the potential of the team and the players showed it today.

Felix Magath:I never thought, that we could loose this match. We played We played a very good preparation und if we score two goals in an away match it should be enough. Besides we granted Dortmund far too much room.

Statistics

BVB: Weidenfeller (3,5)- Degen (3), Brzenska (3), Metzelder (2,5), Dede (2)- Kruska (2,5)- Tinga (1,5), Kringe (2,5)- Pienaar (2)- Smolarek (3), Frei (1).

Bayern: Kahn - Sagnol, Lucio, van Buyten, Lahm - van Bommel - Salihamidzic, Karimi - Schweinsteiger - Makaay, Pizarro

Replacements: Valdez (3) for Smolarek (46th), Sahin (3) for Frei (73rd), Amedick for Pienaar (86th) - Demichelis for Salihamidzic (46th), Podolski for Karimi (61th), Scholl for van Bommel (80th).

Goals: 1:0 Frei, 1:1 van Buyten, 1:2 Makaay, 2:2 Frei, 3:2 Tinga.

Referee: Manuel Gräfe (nothing special to complain about, it is just the person and is lacking abilities...).

Yellow cards: Pienaar, Weidenfeller - van Bommel, Pizarro.

Attendance: 80,708 (sold out)




Geschrieben von borussiamaniac