Convincing finishing and pouncing on opportunities meant that Borussia Dortmund saw off a physically strong Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena today. Both the teams came into the fixture with wins from the past weekend. The Black and Yellow went within a point’s gap with Bundesliga leaders Bayern with the win. Meanwhile, the loss means Wolfsburg will still have to fight to maintain the sixth place spot.
Let’s take a look at some talking points from today’s game.
Borussia Dortmund Cruise to Victory Over Wolfsburg
Lucien Favre’s Side Were Tested
Dortmund started the game with a lot of confidence. They pressed the Wolfsburg defence very well and were also disciplined at the back. Last weekends man of the match Raphael Guerreiro opened the scoring when Erlind Haaland mishit the ball in the 32nd minute. The visitors went into half-time with a lot of positives.
The second half was started well by Wolfsburg as the side showed their intent of a come-back. But their hopes were dealt a major blow when a great Jadon Sancho run was finished beautifully by Achraf Hakimi in the 78th minute. That was probably the last piece of the action by Dortmund in the match.
The atmosphere heated up a little in the 82nd minute when Wolfsburg substitute Felix Klaus lunged into a dangerous tackle on Manuel Akanji. The German was shown a red card for the offence.
It was an exciting game as second-placed Dortmund finally had some tough period in the second half. Wolfsburg will be ruing their missed opportunities. The home team could have at least got a consolation goal.
Dortmund’s Complacency After the Opener
The period from the 32nd minute till the end of the 90 minutes was probably an eye-opener for Lucien Favre. Dortmund were complacent in their playing style and intent after Guerreiro’s opener.
In fact, the visiting team were lucky that they weren’t playing a much more inspired side. Or else, the game could have surely moved towards a 2-2 draw.
This may be an aftermath of the side’s rampant 4-0 rout of Schalke in the Revierderby last week. Fitness levels due to the Coronavirus break in the game can also be another reason to blame for this depleting levels of performance.
Wolfsburg Awful Finishing
Wolfsburg had more shots (seven) than Dortmund (six) had in the entire match. But they managed to create only a single attempt on target which came within the first few minutes in the game. After that, Wolfsburg’s story was all about their poor play in the final third.
Die Wolfe were very quiet in the first half, but went into the top gear in the better portion of the second half. Good chances literally exposed the flaws in the Dortmund setup.
The return of top-scorer Wout Weghorst did not help the side. Weghorst was quite poor today as a forward and could only manage to overpower the opposition centre-backs but for no use.
The Invincible Wing-Backs of Dortmund
The Black and Yellow might just have one of the best wing-back personnel in Europe right now alongside Liverpool. Achraf Hakimi and Raphael Guerreiro were fabulous today as both the wingers on opposite flanks ended up on the score-sheet.
Hakimi was the perfect example of an overlapping wing-back combining with the midfielders and forwards. His great run was rewarded by Sancho as he took his tally to four goals this season. He also has 10 assists which is an incredible statistic for the youngster.
But what was surprising today was Guerreiro’s defensive contribution. Though the winger is actually an attacker who is deployed by Favre as a wing-back, he usually falls back to support his team in dangerous situations. His goal defined his ultimate presence of mind to be at the right place at the right time.
Overall it was an expected but tiring victory for Borussia Dortmund. There is no doubt the players will go back home feeling relieved that they could get all the three points after the partially loose second-half display.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
