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Tag: Borussia Dortmund

  • Bundesliga: Wasteful Bayern stumble in title race, Dortmund win

    Bundesliga: Wasteful Bayern stumble in title race, Dortmund win

    Champions Bayern Munich stumbled to a 1-1 draw at Freiburg on Saturday to hand the Bundesliga top spot back to Borussia Dortmund who beat VfL Wolfsburg 2-0.

    The Bavarians, who had won 13 of their previous 14 league games, cancelled out Lucas Hoeler’s third-minute strike with Robert Lewandowski’s 199th Bundesliga goal in the 22nd.

    But their backline featuring Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng, who were both dropped from the national team recently, looked extremely shaky and Freiburg could have grabbed another.

    Bayern gradually assumed control but the Poland striker’s sensational volley for the equaliser was not enough and he wasted a bagful of golden chances in the second half.

    “We had to use the chances we had in the second half,” Bayern coach Niko Kovac told reporters.

    “In the second half we had a large number of them which we simply did not use. Otherwise we would have easily won this game.

    “Now we are running behind (Dortmund) again. It is frustrating.”

    The Bavarians, with 17 goals in their previous three league games, hit the woodwork in stoppage time but were left on 61 points, two behind Dortmund whom they play next week.

    Bayern, who have signed the world’s second most expensive defender in Lucas Hernandez with 80 million euros for next season, are chasing a record-extending sixth successive league title after their Champions League round of 16 exit to Liverpool.

    RB Leipzig’s Yussuf Poulsen scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 demolition of Hertha Berlin to open up a five-point gap in third place on 52, with Borussia Moenchengladbach fourth on 47.

  • Dortmund to attempt the impossible against Tottenham – Reus

    Borussia Dortmund are going into their Champions League Round-of-16 second leg at home against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday with a clear disadvantage after a 3-0 first-leg loss but the Germans will attempt a major upset, said Captain Marco Reus.

    Bundesliga leaders Dortmund have managed just one win in their last five league games, while also losing to Tottenham in London and being eliminated by Werder Bremen in the German Cup.

    Reus, injured in the game against Werder in early February, returned on Friday but could do nothing to avert their second league loss of the season, 2-1 at Augsburg.

    On Monday, he sounded confident that his team could still turn things around against the English side if they hit top form on the night.

    “I think this stadium (in Dortmund) has seen its share of games where history was written,” Reus told a news conference. “We can also do it.

    “But we need a top performance and to score the goals at the right time. I think we are in a position to achieve the impossible.”

    Dortmund still has the best attack in the German Bundesliga but in recent weeks they have struggled to score while also conceding goals through individual errors.

    Their seven-point gap a few weeks ago has now shrunk to a slim goal difference ahead of second-placed Bayern Munich, while their lacklustre first-leg performance against Tottenham also raised alarm bells.

    “We know in the past weeks we have gifted away points because we made too many mistakes,” Reus said. “We have to remain positive and keep working.

    “We have to be stronger, have a stronger mentality, like we had in the previous months. We will emerge from this.”

  • Transfer news: Chelsea sign Christain Pulisic for £58m

    Transfer news: Chelsea sign Christain Pulisic for £58m

    Chelsea have signed Borussia Dortmund forward Christian Pulisic for 64m euros (£58m), but will loan him back to the German club until the end of the season.

    The 20-year-old United States international, who was linked with Liverpool and Arsenal, joined Dortmund as a youth player in 2015.

    Pulisic has scored nine goals in 23 games for the US.

    “It’s a privilege to have signed for such a legendary club,” he said.

    It is the highest transfer fee for an American player, beating the 20m euros Wolfsburg paid for John Brooks in 2017.

    Dortmund director Michael Zorc said: “It was always Christian’s dream to play in the Premier League.

    “That certainly has to do with his American background, and as a result we were unable to extend his contract.

    “Against this background, we have decided to accept an extremely lucrative bid by Chelsea, given the low contract maturity.”

    Pulisic’s contract at Dortmund was due to expire in June 2020.

  • Bundesliga: Ribery seals Bayern win to cut Dortmund’s lead

    Bundesliga: Ribery seals Bayern win to cut Dortmund’s lead

    Franck Ribery scored an 83rd-minute winner as champions Bayern Munich beat RB Leipzig 1-0 on Wednesday.

    The victory helped to cut the gap to Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund to six points with one game remaining before the winter break.

    The 35-year-old French winger, who had come on for the injured Serge Gnabry midway through the first half, shook off two markers.

    He then fired in from 10 metres to break the deadlock as Bayern notched their fourth consecutive league win.

    Bayern, back to winning ways after a dip in form earlier in the campaign, are third in the table on 33 points, behind second-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach on goal difference.

    Borussia Moenchengladbach were 2-0 winners against Nuremberg on Tuesday.

    “You could tell this was a very important game,” said Bayern forward Thomas Mueller. “We would have liked to have a bit more flowing game and we also made mistakes with possession.

    “But we had the better goal chances. So, overall, it was a deserved victory. At the end of the day we won the game and we are back in the mix.”

    Dortmund, who suffered their first league defeat of the season on Tuesday after losing 2-1 at promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf, are on 39.

    Leipzig are fourth on 28.

    Bayern were far from their best and both teams hit the woodwork in the first half before the in-form Gnabry had to be taken off injured.

    The hosts were no real threat for much of the second half, with Robert Lewandowski isolated up front.

    Their best chance came in the 79th minute when Joshua Kimmich headed goalwards from a metre out.

    But his effort was blocked by goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, who had sprinted back from the other side of his goal.

    The Hungarian, however, could do nothing when Ribery drilled in with seven minutes remaining.

    The winger, who is in his last season in Munich, has lost his starting spot to Gnabry this season.

    Both sides ended the game with 10 men after Leipzig’s Stefan Ilsanker was first sent off for a reckless foul on Thiago Alcantara in stoppage time.

    Bayern Munich’s Renato Sanches followed suit with a second booking for pushing him in the ensuing melee.

    Schalke 04 slumped to a 2-1 home defeat by Bayer Leverkusen.

    They were wearing shirts with names of coal pits in the area to mark the end of mining in the Ruhr valley later this month.

    The Royal Blues, last season’s runners-up, are now just a point above the relegation playoff spot.

    Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim shared the points in a 1-1 draw.

  • Bundesliga: Dortmund go seven points clear with victory over Freiburg

    Bundesliga: Dortmund go seven points clear with victory over Freiburg

    Borussia Dortmund maintained their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season with victory over Freiburg to send them seven points clear at the top.

    Marco Reus slammed a penalty down the centre after England’s Jadon Sancho was fouled by Dominique Heintz.

    Jerome Gondorf almost equalised with a 30-yard free-kick which hit the crossbar, and Dortmund’s Lukasz Piszczek also struck the bar.

    Paco Alcacer then scored his 11th goal in 11 games to complete the victory.

    The summer signing from Barcelona is averaging a goal every 49 minutes, scoring on all six of his Bundesliga substitute appearances.

    Ten goals in his first eight Bundesliga matches is a joint record with Hamburg’s Gert Dorfel in 1963.

    Elsewhere, Serge Gnabry scored twice as Bayern Munich beat Werder Bremen 2-1 – their first Bundesliga win since 27 October.

    Niko Kovac’s side move up to third in the table – although Dortmund were the only side in the top four at the start of the weekend in action on Saturday.

  • Borussia Dortmund bus bomber receives 14-year jail sentence

    A man who bombed the Borussia Dortmund football team bus in 2017 has been given 14 years for attempted murder.

    Sergei Wenergold, a German of Russian origin, had hidden bombs packed with metal pins which went off as the bus passed a hedge on its way to a Champions League quarter-final match.

    The blast, which wounded two people, was initially treated as a suspected jihadist attack, BBC reports

    But Wenergold admitted the plot, saying he had not meant to hurt anyone.

    In a bizarre twist, it emerged that the 29 year old had planned to make money out of the bombing by betting on a fall in Borussia Dortmund’s stock market price.

    Dortmund’s Spanish defender Marc Bartra and a police officer were wounded in the attack.

    Wenergold was convicted of 28 counts of attempted murder.

  • EPL: West Ham sign Yarmolenko from Dortmund

    EPL: West Ham sign Yarmolenko from Dortmund

    West Ham’s new signing Andriy Yarmolenko says he has joined an “interesting project” after moving from Borussia Dortmund on a four-year deal.

    The 28-year-old scored three goals in 18 appearances for the Bundesliga side after joining in August 2017.

    He had previously spent 11 seasons with Dynamo Kiev and joins the Hammers for an undisclosed fee.

    “The team wants to achieve high things and I am excited for this challenge,” said the Ukraine winger.

    “The Premier League is the best in the world and I know an interesting project is being built at West Ham.”

    Yarmolenko has 35 goals in 77 caps for Ukraine and only Andriy Shevchenko has more scored more times for the country.

    He becomes new manager Manuel Pellegrini’s fifth signing of the summer and follows the arrival on Monday of former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, who was a free agent.

    The Hammers have also signed defender Issa Diop for a club-record fee, as well as former Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and defender Ryan Fredericks.

    “When we had the opportunity to sign him, we did not hesitate, because he really is the kind of player we were looking for,” said West Ham director of football Mario Husillos.

    “I think Manuel Pellegrini is the perfect coach for Andriy and his style of play.”

    BBC

  • Bayern Munich put six past rival Dortmund

    Bayern Munich are one win away from retaining the Bundesliga after humiliating rivals Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker on Saturday evening.

    Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick against his former side, while Thomas Muller, James Rodriguez and Franck Ribery also scored.

    Dortmund had no answer but remain third in the table – 21 points behind Bayern.

    Jupp Heynckes can win his fourth Bayern title against Augsburg next Saturday – 29 years after his first.

    The 72-year-old has already won five major honours in his three spells in charge of Bayern, and will have an eye on a second Champions League trophy with a quarter-final against Sevilla on Tuesday night.

    Second-placed Schalke’s win against Freiburg earlier on Saturday meant that Heynckes’ side could not seal their sixth straight title at home against their biggest recent rivals.

    But they were rampant regardless, scoring five times in the first half to underline their dominance of German football.

    Lewandowski – linked with a move to Real Madrid again this week – took just five minutes to put the champions elect ahead when he buried Muller’s pass.

    Ribery had a goal disallowed for offside before James steered in David Alaba’s cutback. The game was as good as over when Muller volleyed the third in the 23rd minute, but there was still time for Lewandowski and Ribery to both profit from some hesitant Dortmund defending to score before half time.

    As is so often the case, the second half was largely a non-event, although Dortmund forward Mario Gotze did hit the post.

    And Lewandowski completed his treble with two minutes left, another tap-in after Roman Burki could not hold Josh Kimmich’s cross.

    BBC

  • Bundesliga: Marco Reus signs new Dortmund deal until 2023

    Borussia Dortmund forward Marco Reus has signed a new contract with the Bundesliga club.

    The Germany international, 28, has been linked with several top European clubs in his career, but is now committed to Dortmund until 2023.

    He has made 196 appearances since joining the club in 2012, but has suffered a number of long-term injuries in recent seasons.

    Last month, Reus returned after almost eight months out with a knee injury.

    He captained the side in his comeback against Hamburg and has since scored in three consecutive games.

    Reus said the decision to extend his contract was a “thank you” to the club’s “fantastic fans”.

    “The fact that the club have repeatedly helped me in less than perfect times has also had a positive effect on my decision,” he added.

    Reus has twice been named Bundesliga player of the year and won the German Cup with Dortmund last season.

    He has 29 caps for his country but missed the 2014 World Cup, which Germany won, because of injury.

  • Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ultimatum issued by Borussia Dortmund

    Borussia Dortmund has left the door open for Arsenal to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but insist certain demands have to be met.

    The Bundesliga club has already rejected a bid in excess of £50m for the 28-year-old forward but says a deal could still be reached.

    Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc told Sky Germany: “We are prepared to implement a transfer under certain parameters, and only if these parameters are fully met.

    “Arsenal has made several attempts so far [to sign Aubameyang] and they have all been rejected.

    “Either our demands are fulfilled, then there can be another transfer, or they will not be fulfilled and Aubameyang will play in Dortmund until the summer.

    “By the way, this has also been discussed with and accepted by the Aubameyang family.”

    Arsenal officials have been in Germany this week to discuss a deal for the forward but their offer of more than £50m was rejected on Wednesday.

    Aubameyang has not played for Dortmund since December 16 due to a combination of the Bundesliga’s winter break and being dropped for poor discipline.

    However, Dortmund boss Peter Stoger has restored his leading scorer to the team for Saturday’s league game against Freiburg.