Man of the Match Poll: BVB lose to Gladbach 1-0

Borussia Dortmund lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach in a frustrating 1-0 affair. Dortmund entered the game without stars Marco Reus and Erling Haaland, and both players predictably turned out to be major losses on the day. The game was also overshadowed by referee Deniz Aytekin’s decision to send off Mahmoud Dahoud in the 40th minute with a 2nd yellow card for dissent. From the red card on, Gladbach controlled the game and kept BVB’s Haalandless attack from posing any real threat.

Gregor Kobel

If there is a positive to be taken from this match, it’s the performance of Gregor Kobel. The Swiss keeper was on his heels for the entire second half, and did his best to keep Dortmund in the game. His ability to read and break up counter-attacks was crucially important on the day. He didn’t do anything overly spectacular, but in a match like this one, solid performances are worthy of admiration.

Mats Hummels

Mats Hummels wasn’t perfect against Gladbach, but he was at the very least Dortmund’s best defender. Hummel’s showed his defensive instincts making several goal-stopping tackles and marking Breel Embolo out of the game for long stretches. Embolo wasn’t overly thrilled to be playing Mats, as you may have noticed when the Swiss international attempted a full-speed face-first tackle against him.

Jude Bellingham

Dortmund was seemingly unable to create anything this match, but if there was a solitary hope that we might score a goal, it felt like Bellingham was going to be the one to do it. The Englishman was up for the physical nature of the game and won a few nicely placed free kicks.

Thomas Meunier

Thomas Meunier took players on and put in some nice crosses. On a night when BVB were failing to create much, Meunier looked like the most dangerous attacking threat. Wow, that’s a depressing admission.