Goooool de Lukasz!

Finally! After two losses in a row Borussia Dortmund is back on track. Like against Hannover 96 our team played well, but this time also had the much needed killer mentality and even some luck. Winning 2-1 in Mainz in the dying minutes should give the players the much needed boost for the upcoming events.

Scenario/Line up

Borussia's second away game in a row with already two losses on the record, at home against Hertha BSC Berlin and on the road in Hannover. Sure, we were the better side in Hannover as we were in most of the matches this season. Nonetheless we lost much of our easiness and firepower, that made the last season such an outstanding one. Part of the story might be Nuri Sahin, who opted for Real Madrid during the summer break, and Lucas Barrios, who torn a muscle in the final of this year's Copa. The midfield brain and the the deadly striker up front we not really replacable. But we still play nice football and dominate most of our opponents. We even create many chances, that we wasted way too often. To be honest, nobody really thought that we would go on like last season forever. But in Mainz it was really time to deliver and get some points.

Jürgen Klopp was able to field Sebastian Kehl as holding midfielder and whizzkid Mario Götze as right wing as both came back from suspension. Top striker Lucas Barrios joined team training last week and was part of the squad, but still had to cope with the bench. Robert Lewandowski started up front. On the left wing Croatian national Ivan Perisic played in favour of Kevin Großkreutz. Löwe replaced still injured Marcel Schmelzer. Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel had to cope with Allagui's injury, so young talent Nicolai Müller got his chance.

First Half

With perfect circumstanding, sold out stadium and sunshine, both teams entered the pitch. And it was Borussia Dortmund that started in a furious way.The black-yellows dominated the midfield and played a nice pressing. Nonetheless the first minor chance was up to a mainz player. Risse tested BVB goalie Weidenfeller with a fierce shot from outside the box. Borussia had their first approach in minute 10. Mario Götze paced down the left wing, his fine high cut-in found Lewandowski's, but his header was cleared by Mainz keeper Heinz Müller. Only 3 minutes later Neven Subotic tried another fine header but missed the goal. In total Borussia Dortmund was really dominating and played something like a powerplay. Shinji Kagawa tried to score from 20 metres in minute 22. Heinz Müller needed his best to prevent the ball hitting the net in the lower right corner. Mainz stood deep in their own half and tried for minor counter attacks every now and then. But while most of their approaches were elimanted early, an attack in minute 33 over Mainz' left wing put Lukasz Piszczek under pressure. The Polish national player won the duel near the goalline, but unfortunately played a horrible pass into the own box. The ball was deflected by a Mainz player and found Nicolai Müller about 7 metres in front of the goal left side position. His first try didn't work out and Müller dropped down to the ground. Somehow the deflected ball was over him and he quickly reacted with a soft shot direction Roman Weidenfeller. The ball hit the upper left corner and left Weidenfeller stunning – 1-0 Mainz! Dortmund reacted with fierce but sometimes not very precise attacks. In minute 38 a pass by Götze initiated a nice chance for Gündogan. The holding midfielder missed the goal by 1 metre. Maybe the biggest chance minutes from halftime. A wide pass from defense send Lewandowski up and away with only Heinz Müller between him and the equaliser. Unfortunately he tried to surpass Müller with a shot from 20 metres, that wasn't a threat at all.

Second half

Dortmund started the second half as they ended the first one. Perisic tanked down the left side. His cut-in was cleared by Heinz Müller and the deflected ball found Gündogan at the edge of the box. He tried a "goal of the month" but more or less fired the ball direction corner flag. In minute 54 Kagawa tried another long distance shot, that was again cleared by Müller. After another fine save by the Mainz goalie, minute 64 brought the equaliser finally. Perisic got the ball in midfield and played it to the right side, where Piszczek was storming down the wing. The Polish right-back played a not too precise pass into the box, where Lewandowski set up the ball for Perisic again. And Ivan did, what our lads weren't able to until this moment, he fired a low shot and hit the lower left corner – 1-1! And Robert Lewandowski wanted to made it a double strike, when he shot from the edge of the box in minute 66, but it was again Müller, who saved superbly. Jürgen Klopp made his first substitution and replaced Kagawa and Lewandowski with Moritz Leitner and Lucas Barrios, who made his first appearance in black-yellow since the championschip celebration. And it was now really BVB all over. Mainz stood deep and didn't really try counter-attacks. But in minute 83 they had a double-chance more or less by accident. The first one was cleared by Mats Hummels, who made a fantastic tackle against Mainz striker Ujah in the box, and then was Ivanschitz up and away and solely in front of Roman Weidenfeller. Our goalkeeper proved, that he is one of the best out there and cleared the ball. When everyone thought, the game is over already, Borussia Dortmund got a last freekick about 18 metres in front of the goal, left side. Perisic took it with Heinz Müller boxing the ball out of the box. From the midfield Lukasz Piszczek stormed direction ball and hit it volley. At all it was a lousy shot, that was even slightly deflected by a Mainz player, but it somehow hit the lower left corner of the net – 2-1 Borussia, a last minute win, unbelievable!

Summary

At all the three points were more than deserved. Borussia Dortmund dominated the whole match and had way more chances than Mainz. But as the last goal was scored in the dying minutes it was also somehow lucky. Nonetheless this was maybe the morale boost our boys needed. Especially after losing in Hannover in the dying minutes. This might have been something like a restart for this season. Now it will be important to win the next match at home against Augsburg. But first we have to travel to Marseille his Wednesday and play our second group match of this year's Champions League.

Statistics

FSV Mainz 05: Müller - Pospech, Bungert, Noveski, Fathi - Polanski, Baumgartlinger, Soto (88. Caligiuri) - Risse, Müller (75. Ivanschitz) - Choupo-Moting (43. Ujah)
Coach: Thomas Tuchel

BVB: Weidenfeller [2] - Piszczek [3], Subotic [2], Hummels [1], Löwe [3] - Kehl [2], Gündogan [3] (86. Kuba) - Götze [2], Kagawa [3] (70. Leitner), Perisic [2] – Lewandowski [3] (75. Barrios)
Coach: Jürgen Klopp

(Marks: 1=world class, 2=did very well, 3=performance was ok, 4=not enough but not too bad at all, 5=not worth the money, 6=should pay money for playing football)

Goals: 1-0 Müller (33., right-footed), 1-1 Perisic (64., right-footed, assist Lewandowski), 1-2 Piszczek (90., right-footed, Perisic)

Yellow cards: Pospech / -

Referee: Michael Weiner

Attendance: 34.000 (Coface-Arena, sold out)

Here you'll find videos from and of the stands

jonam, 26.09.2011

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