Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Fortuna Dusseldorf: Three things we learned

Defensive woes almost come to haunt Dortmund, again

This season’s Rückrunde, as we’ve said so many times before, has been drastically different from the magnificent start Borussia Dortmund enjoyed in the Hinrunde. The autumn champions have dropped points from leading positions on countless occasions in the second half of the season, and this, if anything, will be the reason why Dortmund do not lift the Meisterschale on the final match day.

The game against Düsseldorf highlighted our frailty once again, the first scare coming in the 19th minute as Watford loanee Dodi Lukebakio found himself on the end of a well weighted through ball from midfield. After initial difficulty, Lukebakio managed to find his feet and befuddle Julian Weigl, Manual Akanji and Thomas Delaney to get his shot off and put it into the back of the net. Dortmund fans were able to breathe a sigh of relief as VAR showed that Lukebakio was indeed offside for the play, and hence the goal decision was reversed. In instances like this, Dortmund should have done better to close Lukebakio down and not allow for the shot to be taken, however it must be mentioned that the backline has been changed an exorbitant amount of times to cope with the injuries that have plagued Dortmund this season.

This certainly has had something to do with the dip in defensive form, and while there were still shaky moments in the first half of the season, it was nothing compared to the nervousness and frailty displayed since January.

Dortmund defensive woes didn’t stop with this warning shot from Lukebakio, however. In the second half, Die Schwarzgelben allowed Düsseldorf to level the score within minutes of stepping back out onto the pitch.  A cross into the box found Düsseldorf midfielder Oliver Fink who nodded the ball towards goal in what was a very saveable effort. Marwin Hitz, who was between the sticks for Dortmund in place of an injured Roman Bürki saw the ball bounce and go between his legs and into the Dortmund goal.

While we can say that Hitz’s mistake is perhaps the result of his very limited playing time at Dortmund, it was only the beginning of a shaky second half for the former Augsburg number 1. In the 55th minute, Hitz would go on to collide with Lukebakio and concede a penalty. The Swiss keeper came off the worse party in the challenge, feeling the full force of Lukebakio’s attempt to reach the ball, but thankfully, major injury was avoided by both parties. It was somewhat questionable that Lukebakio would indeed reach the ball in his attempt, but Hitz’s hesitation to come off his line saw him collide with Lukebakio and not the ball, which is likely the reason the penalty decision stood. To the collective relief of Dortmund supporters in the stadium and around the world, however, Lukebakio missed his penalty, a miss that had massive ramifications on the final result.

With the lead seemingly secured at 3-1 in the dying embers of the game and Fortuna Düsseldorf being taken down to 10 men, Dortmund’s defense managed to let Düsseldorf back into the game, courtesy of a Dawid Kownacki strike. The Polish striker found himself on the end of a lofted ball into the box and put it past Hitz with minimal trouble whatsoever. The young Pole was allowed, unmarked, to make an effective run to get onto the end of this ball, which saw Düsseldorf pull within a goal of a point. This led to a very nervy few minutes, but Dortmund were able to hold on, just.

Dortmund’s defensive performance left much to be desired in this game, and not for the first time this season. It highlights how much reinforcements are needed in the coming transfer window, and the work Favre needs to do with this squad on the training ground. Recent links pointing to a resurgence in interest in Benfica’s Álex Grimaldo are a sign that Dortmund are aware of the issues at hand and plan to have them sorted come August.