Eleventh place at the turn of the year. A month without a win. That was Borussia Dortmund's threat before the last game of the year. But Sahin's team successfully fought back in Wolfsburg.
Borussia Dortmund averted the feared Christmas crisis in impressive fashion. BVB won the turbulent last game of the year 3:1 (3:0) at VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga and now go into the three-week winter break in sixth place in the table, just two points behind a Champions League place.
In the event of a defeat, coach Nuri Sahin's team would have dropped to eleventh place. That would have been the worst Christmas result since the last season with BVB saint Jürgen Klopp ten years ago. However, goals from Donyell Malen (25th minute), Maximilian Beier (28th) and Julian Brandt (30th) within five minutes prevented that. In the second half, the game threatened to turn after Denis Vavro made it 3-1 (58') and Pascal Gross was shown a red card (62').
In the end, however, 28,917 spectators in the sold-out Volkswagen Arena saw a well-deserved first away win for Dortmund in this Bundesliga season. And revenge for the cup defeat in Wolfsburg just two months earlier.
Sahin's courageous line-up
BVB coach Sahin had already reacted very boldly to the winless streak in December before kick-off. On Friday, his emotional dressing room speech after the disappointing 1:1 draw against 1899 Hoffenheim was made public ("Are you guys winners?"). On Sunday evening, he opted for an unconditional offensive approach with two strikers (Beier, Guirassy), three attacking midfielders (Malen, Brandt, Gittens) and only one back-up (Felix Nmecha) behind them.
The fact that VfL coach Ralph Hasenhüttl simultaneously abandoned his successful system of recent weeks and adopted a much more cautious approach was a signal to both teams: Dortmund played very boldly and dominantly, while Wolfsburg were inhibited.
Brandt missed the first big chance for the visitors as early as the second minute. By the end of the first half, BVB had already scored three goals and missed three more opportunities before VfL even had their first chance to score: Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel saved a header from Mattias Svanberg from close range (35').
Nmecha against Nmecha
Hasenhüttl brought on two new strikers at the break, adding a familiar touch to the evening. Wolfsburg's Lukas Nmecha now played against his brother Felix, who had joined Borussia from the Volkswagen club for €30 million in 2023.
The striker, who had been injured for a long time, missed the first chance to bring VfL back into contention in the 48th minute. Completely unmarked, Nmecha failed to beat Kobel.
Later, the 26-year-old also brought out the red card for Gross when he forced the Dortmund international to make an emergency stop. The resulting free-kick by Vavro was the big chance to make it 2:3 shortly after the Slovakian scored the equalizer (65').
Wolfsburg now had four attackers on the pitch and were overwhelmingly superior in the second half. In BVB's favor, however, was the fact that being outnumbered for almost half an hour sharpened their senses rather than creating uncertainty. Brandt (65) and Guirassy (69) even missed good counter-attacking chances to score a fourth goal.
VfL Wolfsburg
Borussia Dortmund
- Denis Vavro - 1:3 (58.)
- (25.) 0:1 - Donyell Malen
- (28.) 0:2 - Maximilian Beier
- (30.) 0:3 - Julian Brandt
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Liveticker
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Liveticker closed
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90.+8.End of 2nd half
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90.+4.Yellow card Borussia Dortmund
Yan Couto
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87.Substitution in Borussia Dortmund
Karim Adeyemi
Striker
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87.Substitution out Borussia Dortmund
Jamie Gittens
Midfielder
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87.Substitution in Borussia Dortmund
Giovanni Reyna
Midfielder
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87.Substitution out Borussia Dortmund
Julian Brandt
Midfielder
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86.Substitution in VfL Wolfsburg
Jakub Kaminski
Midfielder
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86.Substitution out VfL Wolfsburg
Joakim Mæhle
Midfielder
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86.Substitution in VfL Wolfsburg
Patrick Wimmer
Midfielder
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86.Substitution out VfL Wolfsburg
Mohamed Amoura
Striker
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75.Substitution in VfL Wolfsburg
Salih Özcan
Midfielder
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75.Substitution out VfL Wolfsburg
Yannick Gerhardt
Midfielder
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75.Substitution in Borussia Dortmund
Yan Couto
Defender
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75.Substitution out Borussia Dortmund
Maximilian Beier
Striker
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70.Yellow card VfL Wolfsburg
Denis Vavro
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63.Substitution in Borussia Dortmund
Waldemar Anton
Defender
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63.Substitution out Borussia Dortmund
Donyell Malen
Midfielder
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63.Yellow card Borussia Dortmund
Donyell Malen
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62.Red card Borussia Dortmund (direct)
Pascal Groß
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58.Goal for VfL Wolfsburg, 1:3 through Denis Vavro (Maximilian Arnold)
Denis Vavro
Defender
Assist: Maximilian Arnold
Midfielder
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55.Yellow card VfL Wolfsburg
Yannick Gerhardt
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50.Yellow card VfL Wolfsburg
Konstantinos Koulierakis
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46.Substitution in VfL Wolfsburg
Lukas Nmecha
Striker
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46.Substitution out VfL Wolfsburg
Mattias Svanberg
Midfielder
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46.Substitution in VfL Wolfsburg
Tiago Tomás
Striker
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46.Substitution out VfL Wolfsburg
Kilian Fischer
Defender
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45.+3.End of 1st half
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30.Goal for Borussia Dortmund, 0:3 through Julian Brandt (Maximilian Beier)
Julian Brandt
Midfielder
Assist: Maximilian Beier
Striker
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28.Goal for Borussia Dortmund, 0:2 through Maximilian Beier (Julian Brandt)
Maximilian Beier
Striker
Assist: Julian Brandt
Midfielder
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25.Goal for Borussia Dortmund, 0:1 through Donyell Malen (Ramy Bensebaini)
Donyell Malen
Midfielder
Assist: Ramy Bensebaini
Defender
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1.Start of the match
