Borussia Dortmund’s Maximilian Beier shines in win over RB Leipzig

Borussia Dortmund’s winless streak came to an end this weekend after a hard-fought win over RB Leipzig secured a much-needed three points and put them level on points with Bayer Leverkusen (16) and now sees them only four points adrift of Leipzig themselves who sit in second. It was a result that Dortmund had been yearning for, especially in a week when they’d been dumped out of the DFB Pokal.

One of the stars of the show was summer signing Maximilian Beier. The Germany international had been struggling substantially to get off the mark, but the player couldn’t have picked a better time to make a substantial impact.

Beier chipped in with a goal and an assist, opening his account with Dortmund with a pivotal equalizer to nullify Benjamin Šeško’s opener for Leipzig. In the second half, Beier turned provider for Serhou Guirassy with tenacious effort, maintaining possession for Dortmund and crossing into the box to find the Guinea international, who was able to head home for Dortmund.

Beier’s goal and assist will be a massive boost for the young attacker, as a weight will have certainly been lifted off of his shoulders. In an interview with the club after the game, Beier noted his excitement for getting the win with Dortmund and also made clear that he and his teammates gave everything for those three points:

"[The goal feels] Still the same as yesterday, still good. I didn’t get much sleep, but it still feels very good… we threw everything into the game that we could. I think after 90 minutes, when I looked into the eyes of my teammates, nobody was really able to run anymore, so we threw everything into it to get the three points yesterday."

- Maximilian Beier

Throughout the match, Beier and his teammates indeed gave their all, defending as a unit and showing a level of focus that underlines what this team is capable of when everything clicks, and also brings into question why it is that things haven’t clicked consistently this season. Beier’s performance received praise from head coach Nuri Şahin after the game, whose words were targeted to defend Beier against scrutiny from the media:

"We really need to be careful here. I just saw on TV that this was his twelfth competitive game for Borussia Dortmund. He’s a young German international. The way he was scrutinized was unbelievable. I’m incredibly happy for him."

- Nuri Şahin

Beier also highlighted Sahin as a cornerstone of support heading into this game. As Şahin states, the criticism of Beier was beginning to mount, and through this Şahin remained in the German international's corner offering encouragement:

"[Şahin’s words mean] A lot, but I didn’t just get the good words because of yesterday’s game. I also get good words after, not really bad games, but after the game against Wolfsburg... Nuri always cheered me up or gave me good words, telling me to keep going, to keep working, to keep fighting."

- Maximilian Beier

To get out of the situation Dortmund currently find themselves in, it will take quite a bit more effort and fight on the end of Beier and his teammates to break into the top four. With this newfound relief and increase in confidence, we can surely hope to see Beier himself play a substantial role in the revival Dortmund will look to build on the back of such a strong performance.