In a mouth-watering battle that has left fans counting the days to the cup final, it was Wolfsburg who got the better of Dortmund in the first of their two encounters in May.
As opposed to many predictions, viewers were treated to one of the most riveting first halves of football this Bundesliga season, instigated by an Ilkay Guendogan faux pas which helped provide Wolfsburg the lead just seconds after kick-off.
Dortmund, far from unfamiliar to an early setback this season, bounced back quickly and threw everything they had at the Wolves, resulting in a deserved penalty ten minutes in. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put Dortmund back on the map, clinically converting against Diego Benaglio.
What followed was 80 minutes of entertaining, high velocity football in which both sides created a host of fine goalscoring chances. While Wolfsburg’s Naldo managed to rack up one more shortly after the break, Dortmund failed to capitalise on its chances, ultimately succumbing 2-1 to the Wolves.
Wolfsburg and Dortmund stars at the top of their game
Somewhat surprisingly, we did not get to witness the circumspect approach expected in view of the more crucial rematch in a fortnight. Instead, both teams were more than willing to give each other a good run for their money, firing on all cylinders for the entirety of the 90 minutes. This spectacle was garnished by the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bas Dost, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and later put on Marco Reus all giving their all, determined to help their sides extract the maximum points of a season that is at last drawing the curtains.
De Bruyne deserves to be singled out again, simply due to his superb footwork and vision on the park. It comes across as though his teammates feed on De Bruyne’s nimble movements and energy on the pitch. Both Wolfsburg and Bundesliga fans can only hope that Dieter Hecking will stand firm on the man with the impeccable touches come this summer transfer window.
Wolfsburg’s controversial goal
Overall, the match was inarguably one characterised by mutual respect and fair play between both sides. Because of that, it was hard to see this encounter turn into one of the matches where the outcome is skewed by a divisive refereeing decision.
And yet, that is what happened in the 49th minute, when Naldo tapped in Wolfsburg’s second and went on to celebrate what would become the winning goal of the afternoon. The ball had bounced off a pair of legs right into the Brazilian’s feet after De Bruyne whipped in a corner from the right. After getting hold of it in the box, he deftly slid the ball towards the bottom left corner of Mitch Langerak’s goal, whose vision was not only blocked by the offside-positioned Timm Klose but he also had to contemplate the ball deflecting off the defender’s boots.
Either way, it was a fairly unambiguous call the linesman missed and should have ruled out. That is not to say Wolfsburg did not do its chores to deserve the three points, however, they too would probably have favoured a regular goal to clinch the victory over BVB.
Despite the loss, Europe still on the cards for Dortmund
Juergen Klopp knew that a defeat at the Volkswagen city could deal a serious blow to Borussia Dortmund’s Europa League endeavours. Therefore, it is likely to assume that BVB staff mostly reacted with a sigh of relief to what had unfolded in the parallel encounters around them.
In spite of its defeat, Dortmund, for now, remains seventh in the table which would entitle it to partake in one qualification round prior to the Europa League group stage. Whilst it currently shares seventh with Bremen in terms of points, it would right now come out on top courtesy of a better goal difference.
Ironically, the last match day pits BVB against Bremen, rendering this an absolute do or die match at the Westfalenstadion. A win against Bremen could catapult Dortmund up to the sixth spot given an Augsburg loss away in Gladbach, which would entail direct Europa League football qualification. As little as one point will suffice to clinch seventh, defeat costs Dortmund Europe.
What will it be for Dortmund?
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