The Daily Bee: Sebastian Kehl Reacts to Revierderby Disappointment

With a week of BVB-less Champions League football ahead of us, this will actually serve as a rare opportunity for the squad to rest up as the season continues to heat up. While crashing out of the Champions League is surely frustrating, Dortmund still have the chance to win a domestic double. While two trophies are still up for grabs, performances of the kind of the last week will not be sufficient to get the job done in either one.

Losing to Chelsea is understandable, I guess, but BVB’s slip-up is the type of “loss” (technically a draw but any dropped points are a loss at this point) that will prove absolutely devastating in the title race.

In his post-match remarks, Sebastian Kehl criticized BVB’s attitude in the second half of the Revierderby, saying, “I wouldn’t disagree with the fact that in the second half, maybe because of the dominance before the break, we thought [the game] would work itself out, with less concentration. Then you get into this situation very unnecessarily and ask yourself why it’s a draw. We lacked the focus to win the game...”

While Dortmund did control the majority of the game and created the majority of the chances, Schalke were clinical and BVB slipped up when it mattered most. That’s unfortunately how football goes when you don’t play a tight game. Jude Bellingham is a world class player, but it was his turnover that gave Schalke their first goal. I think his turnover was emblematic of the entire squad’s attitude in the second half, just as described by Kehl.

The Links

• If you haven’t already, go check out Sarah’s recounting of her trip to the Deutsches Fußballmuseum in Germany.
• According to Ruhr Nachrichten, Gregor Kobel, Karim Adeyemi, and Marco Reus are all aiming to be back by BVB’s match against Cologne next week. Unfortunately, Emre Can will miss the game after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Schalke on Saturday.

The Daily Buzz

What Champions League matches are you looking forward to this week? Who do you think will go through?