Three dirty points in Braunschweig

Borussia Dortmund had to cope with two setbacks from last weekend. First of all the 2-2 draw at home against Augsburg wasn't enough at all. The black-yellows weren't able to capitalize on leading two times. As a curiosity Chinese striker Ji, who will join Dortmund this coming summer, scored the 2-2. The other major disappointment was Blaszczykowski's injury. The supporters' first fears became true as on Sunday a torn cruciate ligament was confirmed. The Polish national skipper will be out until summer. Borussia reacted and signed young Serbian national midfielder Miloš Jojić. Costing a transfer fee of 2.2 million Euro he signed a contract until 2018. On the other hand young defender Koray Günter joined Galatasaray of Istanbul. Borussia Dortmund will receive 1.5 to 2 million Euro and have the option buy the 19 year old back in about 2 years.

Nonetheless for the match against Eintracht Braunschweig BVB coach Jürgen Klopp haSB sd at least also some good news. Central defender Mats Hummels, who was out for about 10 weeks due to an injury, was available again. He was accompanied in central defence by Greek national Sokratis. Kevin Großkreutz on the right back position and Marcel Schmelzer on the opposite side completed the flat four in front of goalie Roman Weidenfeller. As Ilkay Gündogan was still missing Nuri Sahin and Sven Bender started in holding midfield. Mkhitaryan, Reus and Aubameyang played in attacking midfield behind sole striker Robert Lewandowski.

Eintracht Braunschweig's coach Torsten Lieberknecht made one change compared to last week's 0-0 draw against Werder Bremen - Hochscheidt replaced Pfitzner. In addition to that Lieberknecht changed tactics from a 4-1-4-1 to a pure 4-4-2. The newly promoted club from Lower Saxony is still struggling to get used to German top flight football. They collected only 12 points out of 18 matches and are placed on the absolute bottom of the table. Though they stabilized their performances at the end of the first leg of the season, they still often end up with only one or even zero points.

The game started in front of a capacity crowd of 23.325 spectators with floodlights giving a nice atmosphere for this evening match. Eintracht Braunschweig was the more active team in the first minutes. Hochscheidt's corner kick in minute 4 was the first task for goalie Roman Weidenfeller. Only three minute later Hochscheidt had his next approach. His shot from about 25 metres heading for the lower left corner would not have been no match for Weidenfeller. But as the ball was deflected it was suddenly on its way to the lower right corner. Luckily Weidenfeller showed some good reflexes and saved this one. At all Braunschweig was much more aggressive in duels and had more attacking moments. Borussia Dortmund was only reacting and showed quite some chaos in defence. The black-yellows needed until about minute 10 for their first chances. Bender set up a long pass for Aubameyang, but defender Reichel was able to clear. Minutes later Kevin Großkreutz paced through Braunschweig's defence but Marco Reus' pass was a little bit too sharp. But Braunschweig was still there. Nielsen played a fine high cut-in into the box. A totally unmarked Kessel got his head to the ball but his attempt went over the bar. In minute 27 Mhitaryan was storming into Braunschweig's box. He was axed by Ademi directly in front of the box. The following freekick taken by Nuri Sahin was aimed for the upper right corner. And it would have been a more or less exact copy of last week's freekick goal by Sahin against Augsburg, but goalie Davari made a superb save. Borussia Dortmund now somehow got rolling and created more chances. In minute 31 central defender Sokratis brought the ball to Robert Lewandowski. The Polish national played a one-two with Reus and was suddenly in front of the goal on the right side. He didn't try to score from narrow angle but played a beautifull chip ball to the far post. Here Aubameyang was waiting and scored by head - 1-0 Borussia Dortmund! The Westphalians tried to double the lead immediately but approaches by Reus and Lewandowski's were of no danger. But also Eintracht Braunschweig was still taking part. In minute 38 Nielsen was up and away in midfield and Mkhitaryan needed a tactical foul to stop this counter-attack. In consequence referee Marco Fritz booked the Armenian national for this foul. Minutes before halftime Lewandowski and Aubameyang nearly scored a second goal. The Polish striker tanked into Braunschweig's box and played a fine pass to the left post, where Aubameyang was again waiting. Unfortunately he was offside by centimetres. So the match went into halftime break with a narrow BVB lead.

There weren't any changes on any side. And it was again Eintracht Braunschweig who had the first chance. A long ball penetrated BVB's box but Hummels and Schmelzer were able to deny this one. On the other side of the pitch Mkhitaryan played a superb pass that found Marco Reus unmarked on the left side of the pitch. The agile German national headed toward Braunschweig's goal and tried to score with a fierce shot aiming for the lower left corner. Eintracht goalie Davari made a brilliant save with his right leg and so this one was gone. But somehow the following minutes were like against Augsburg last week. A Augsburg corner kick from the right side in minute 54 passed BVB's box. In front of the goal Braunschweig defender Kessel was totally unmarked. His short distance shot let Weidenfeller no chance and it was 1-1. While Braunschweig was now on the button Dortmund had the next big chance. In minute 65 Reus paced through Braunschweig's half of the pitch. He didn't try to take a shot from about 22 metres but played a precise pass to the left side where Aubameyang was waiting. The tall striker didn't hesitate and scored with a powerful low shot into the lower right corner - 2-1 Borussia Dortmund! Dortmund really wanted to secure these three points. Marco Reus took a fine freekick from 30 metres in minute 68 and it needed Davari's best to save this one. BVB now really had some chances to decide the match. Lewndowski and Reus played two one-twos into Braunschweig's box. Davari was already left gasping but Lewandowski wasn't able to convert as Kessel blocked the final shot. Marco Reus had another two approaches in minute 78 and 80 but didn't manage to score. Bellarabi set a sign of life as he had Braunschweig's next chance. Appearing completely unmarked in front of Weidenfeller he missed the ball by centimetres and so this chance was wasted. Jürgen Klopp reacted and threw Piszczek into the mtch in favour of Großkreutz. On the other side of the pitch Lewandowski, Sahin and Reus entered Eintracht's box and had within the same attack several chances to score. In the end Nuri Sahin's last shot hit Marco Reus and went outside the pitch. In the dying minutes Mkhitaryan stole the ball from Braunschweig defender Bicakcic and was up and away direction Davari. The Armenian national opted for a low shot to the left. Unfortunately the ball hit the left post only. Eintracht's Kessel then tried a high cut-in from the right side. His ball hit Schmelzer's arm directly on the line of the box. The referee didn't see any reason to point to the penalty spot, probably a right decision. But this was the signal for Jürgen Klopp to bring in Sebastian Kehl to strenghen the air defence. Eintracht Braunschweig had the last and surely best chance of this match. In minute 91 a high cut-in found Bicakcic in Dortmund box. His header hit the left post and from there bounced back into Weidenfeller's arms! Though Dortmund was really shaky in the last minutes referee Fritz finally blew the final whistle securing Dortmund a 2-1 win on the road.

Summary

At all a deserved win with some luck in the dying minutes. Borussia Dortmund played only for a couple of minutes fine football. The rest of the match was not really nice to watch. Braunschweig gave us a big fight but in the end the 2-1 win is deserved regarding the chances we had. Next week we will be on the road again, facing Werder Bremen.

Torsten Lieberknecht: "I can't blame my team. We gave Dortmund a big fight and played in a brave way. The performance was ok and that gives us some hope."

Jürgen Klopp: "We had several chances to score but Davari was unbelievable. We are not really used to this kind of dirty wins, but this was one. When you are not yet rolling you needed matches like today. Now we have to go on."

Statistics

Eintracht Braunschweig: Davari - Kessel, Bicakcic, Dogan, Reichel - Elabdellaoui (73. Kumbela), Theuerkauf, Boland (78. Pfitzner), Hochscheidt - Ademi (67. Bellarabi), Nielsen
Coach: Torsten Lieberknecht

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller (2) - Großkreutz (3) (84. Piszczek), Sokratis (4, Hummels (3), Schmelzer (4) - Sahin (4), Bender (3) (90. Kehl) - Aubameyang (2), Mkhitaryan (4) (93. Ducksch), Reus (3) - Lewandowski (3)
Coach: Jürgen Klopp

Goals: 0-1 Aubameyang (31., header, assist Lewandowski), 1-1 Kessel (54., right-footed, Hochscheidt), 1-2 Aubameyang (65., left-footed, Reus)

Yellow cards: - / Mkhitaryan

Referee: Marco Fritz

Attendance: 23.325 (Eintracht-Stadion, sold out)

jonam, 01.02.2014

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