Match Report: Dortmund tie 1-1 despite playing a man up in the second half.

Tough times only getting tougher.

Despite being a man up for most of the game BVB tied Leverkusen 1-1 today. Our lone goal was from Andriy Yarmolenko. The Leverkusen Goal was from Kevin Volland and Wendell is the player who was sent off. Phillip and Castro both came off injured.

The first half started very poorly for Dortmund. in the sixth minute Max Phillip, who has been playing striker due to Aubameyang’s suspension, was gravely injured and had to be stretchered off. His injury looked quite bad and he was seen in a cast after the game. That alone probably had a significant effect on the head-space of the team. Leverkusn dominated the rest of the half, only allowing BVB to take two shots to their 10. The Leverkusen goal came from a counter that found Volland on our side of the field with not a single other yellow shirt. Our defending needs to be better then that. A high line does nothing if everyone is on their side of the field. Towards the end of the half Wendell made a very aggressive tackle on Castro that, thanks to VAR, got him a red card. On the flip side of that, Castro was also injured and had to be subbed off leaving BVB with only 1 sub for the rest of the game. The half ended with some good play from BVB but nothing came of it.

The second half went quite poorly for BVB despite a equalizing goal. We kept 73% possession but allowed Leverkusn to have just as many high quality chances as we did. Our last sub was also wasted as Dahoud came on for Weigl. While Dahoud did make a positive impact on the game, there were better choices to sub out then Julian. Our goal for the game was a good one. Yarmolenko played very poorly most of the match but was able to create a great chance right in front of the goal in a crowded box. The rest of the half went Leverkusens way as they forced Burki to make some stunning saves.

It says a lot about this team that Leverkusen were the better team a man up. Poor performances from just about everybody did not help. Even Pulisic, who is generally not affected when his team plays poorly, looked helpless as he dribbled into enemy defenders time and time again(Dembele flashbacks). Burki was our man of the match as he is the only reason we did not lose this by 3-4 goals. His saves all game were top class.

So what did you think of the match?