Three days after earning three points in Leverkusen, Dortmund returned home against the same opponent and were knocked out of the DFB Pokal. Ibrahim Maza’s strike in the 34th minute was the sole decider as Kovac will watch the rest of the tournament from home. It wasn’t for lack of trying, however, as Dortmund were the better side in this match. The last 20-30 minutes of the game saw an unrelenting siege on Leverkusen’s goal. Unfortunately for the good guys, their poor finishing and inability to utilize set-pieces let them down.Going into back-to-back games against Leverkusen, Dortmund were bound to struggle.
Here are my nominees for MOTM as our Vox overlords still haven’t quite figured out how to add polls within articles…
Waldemar Anton
Anton was easily Dortmund’s best defensive player on the pitch. He commanded his space well, was rarely beaten, and tracked back quickly when he was beaten. He earns the most plaudits, however, for his role as general in the final stages of this match. As other players wilted, Anton seemed willing to rally the troops. He should have had a goal in the 80th minute but Maximilian Beier attempted the bicycle kick instead.
Karim Adeyemi
Karim Adeyemi was genuinely fantastic across 80% of this match. He hit the pass of the season in the first half to Fabio Silva and always looked dangerous on the ball. The 23-year-old still occilates in-and-out of form but he has taken a step up this season. Unfortunately for Adeyemi, the other 20% of his performance was whenever he had an opportunity to shoot. The forward put together a montage of some of the weakest finishing I have seen.
Felix Nmecha
Felix Nmecha did what he does really well in this game – win duels in midfield. He won both his ground duels and 4/5 of his aerial duels and was a composed presence on the ball. His creativity is, as always, lacking but he did his job well.
Julian Brandt
Dortmund increased the pressure when the substitutes came on and Brandt was the instigator of this. He was not perfect (No one was) but he was the best of the rest… and I struggled to find anyone else deserving.