Jamal Musiala saves FC Bayern another point

The pleading chants from the Dortmund south stand were a good indication of the situation in which Dortmund started the last ten minutes of this great football game against FC Bayern, about which Munich coach Vincent Kompany later said: “There are simply great games in the Bundesliga “, and today we saw that”. BVB’s strength was quickly used up, Bayern pushed and pushed, but Dortmund’s hope was high. Just like the will to invest everything, the heads and the bodies were given away.

The audience also experienced a dramatic finale to a magnificent battle between two Bundesliga giants, whose relationship felt different than in many encounters in the recent past: In this final phase, BVB had finally found itself in the role of the underdog, hoping for a lucky win against an increasingly superior opponent hoped. And the Munich team is defending itself against a defeat that was an unpleasant addition to the series of lost away games against strong opponents at Aston Villa and FC Barcelona.

Behind Munich’s fundamental dominance in the Bundesliga there is the question of how stable this team is in the really big duels, especially away from home. The answer is: strong enough to successfully defend itself against an impending defeat in Dortmund.

BVB’s hopes were less fulfilled than Munich’s fears, because Jamal Musiala once again did what he hadn’t been able to do so well for a long time: head goals. In the 85th minute, the national player scored with a technically perfectly executed header to make it 1-1, which ended the game shortly afterwards. “Let’s just say: a deserved draw and let’s move on,” said Munich attacker Thomas Müller after the party.

Nobody was sad, Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin was even “proud” of his team’s performance, but neither Dortmund nor Munich were completely satisfied. More was possible for both of them. “When you lead for so long, you want to win the game,” said Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck, who led the team as captain in a game for the first time, while Kompany explained: “We wanted to win and we also had the opportunity.” However, that was missing Icy cold with which Bayern have faced many of their visits to Dortmund in recent years. Otherwise she hadn’t lost control during Dortmund’s best phase in the first half. And she had one of the very good opportunities that presented itself after about an hour.

However, they also met a Dortmund team that is currently fighting quite successfully against a persistent weakness of the past: negligence when defending their own goal. As long as he had enough strength, Felix Nmecha dominated the space in front of the defensive line. The wingers took every necessary route in defense and a joy in working against the ball was visible.

Thanks to this stylistic device, Dortmund were better in the first half and took the lead: After a clever through pass from Schlotterbeck, Konrad Laimer had no chance in a running duel against Jamie Gittens on the wing, before the attacker continued his sprint with a precise shot from a tight angle his weaker foot made it 1-0 (27th). Dortmund even had a great chance to make it 2-0 when Marcel Sabizter preferred to finish himself rather than pass Serhou Guirassy on the penalty spot, who could have pushed the ball into the almost empty goal (62′).

This was a key moment in a game in which both teams not only lost points, but also lost important players early on. At BVB, Waldemar Anton had to be substituted with a thigh injury (18th), before Harry Kane sank to the ground after half an hour and had to leave the pitch. Niklas Süle and Thomas Müller were new to the game, and at least Bayern cautiously gave the all-clear regarding the severity of Kane’s injury. “He himself says it’s not that bad,” said Kompany, but whether the time until the big cup game against Leverkusen on Tuesday (8.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the DFB Cup, on ARD and on Sky) is enough for a recovery , is still unclear for the time being.