Home defeat against Dortmund

Match summary

It was an intense, hard-fought and evenly balanced encounter right from the outset at a sold-out MHP Arena. VfB created the first clear-cut chance of the game in the 31st minute when Joane Gadou’s attempted back pass went straight to Deniz Undav, whose shot from a tight angle was saved by Gregor Kobel.

Opening for El Khannouss

Just three minutes later, Maximilian Mittelstädt whipped a teasing cross into the box but Bilal El Khannouss’ header from close range flew just wide of the target.

As such, despite VfB having the better opportunities in the first 45 minutes, the match remained goalless at the interval.

Beier puts Dortmund in front

In the 71st minute, Finn Jeltsch was unable to cut out Jobe Bellingham’s pass into the box to Maximilian Beier, who made no mistake in beating Fabian Bredlow from close range. VfB rode their luck shortly afterwards, with Konstantinos Karetsas firing wide from 14 metres following a Dortmund counter.

Sebastian Hoeneß’ team threw everything forward in search of an equaliser in the closing stages, forcing Kobel to make a good save from Josha Vagnoman (77’), while El Khannouss was unable to make a clean connection when well positioned shortly afterwards. In the end, VfB slipped to a narrow 1-0 defeat.

Goal

71st minute – 0-1: Beier meets Bellingham’s cross and puts BVB in front from close range.

Reaction

Head coach Sebastian Hoeneß: “We’ve come away from the game empty-handed, and that hurts. There were plenty of positive signs and we had good spells, but we need to work together on turning ‘good’ and ‘okay’ back into ‘excellent’. The first half was evenly balanced: we gave very little away, but we didn’t create enough clear-cut chances from some promising situations today. It remained an even game after the break, and Dortmund were able to make the most of one key moment. We had a few opportunities after that, but couldn’t get the reward for our efforts.”

Forward Deniz Undav: “There were a few situations where we were close and had our moments, but we lacked that final cutting edge. It’s frustrating because we put a lot into the game and tried plenty of things. The result is disappointing for us. We need to force our way into shooting positions more often and then make them count. The goal was difficult to defend against, and overall Dortmund handled the game very cleverly.”