In the end, he could only apologise to his team. "I could have won the game but I didn't manage it," said BVB captain Marco Reus after the 1-1 draw against bottom the table Mainz 05 on Saturday. He missed the possible winner from the penalty spot and afterwards wanted to "say sorry to the team." At the same time, he was not the only Dortmund player to miss decent chances on the day. "We had lots of chances, our build-up play was good again and again and we didn't miss out by much," was the analysis of Edin Terzic who has now been the head coach for the Black and Yellows for a month. Under him, Dortmund have won three Bundesliga matches, lost one – and now also picked up a draw. Terzic found that "annoying" as a win for BVB would have taken them above the Werkself. As it is, Borussia Dortmund are now just behind Bayer 04 equal on points but BVB have a worse goal difference by two. Terzic, who was assistant to his predecessor Lucien Favre, is set to make his Champions League debut as head coach in the middle of February against the reigning Europa League winners Sevilla and Dortmund have been drawn against second division Paderborn in the DFB Cup.
The first visible change under Terzic in comparison to Favre is the basic organisation on the pitch: The coach prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation while Favre mainly favoured a back three particularly towards the end of his time in charge. Terzic does not have a lot of room for manoeuvre in the middle of the defence the game against the Werkself. Central defender Dan-Axel Zagadou, who had only just fought his way back to fitness after being sidelined for months, pulled a muscle against Mainz so that Manuel Akanji is likely to start alongside Mats Hummels again.
Terzic scarcely has options in the central midfield. The season is over for Axel Witsel after he suffered a torn Achilles against RB Leipzig and the former Leverkusen player Emre Can picked up a fifth yellow card against Mainz and that means he will miss the return to his old stomping ground. As Mahmoud Dahoud has not played a single minute under Terzic, and has recently not even been in the squad, the combination of the experienced Dane Thomas Delaney and the highly talented 17-year-old Jude Bellingham is probably the only defensive midfield pairing realistically available to the coach.
Definitely sidelined are long-term absentee Marcel Schmelzer plus the forward Thorgan Hazard (muscle injury). There is some hope remaining with the young and pacey dribbler Giovanni Reyna who missed the game at Mainz due to an infection. If the American is sidelined then Julian Brandt could be an option to start against his former team.
The attacking potential of Dortmund remains impressive. Leading the way is Erling Haaland who continues to produce goals and records non-stop. The 20-year-old Norwegian recently hit the headlines by scoring 25 goals in the first 25 Bundesliga matches and in the current season he has 12 goals in 11 games. When Haaland was sidelined with a muscle injury in December, Dortmund only won one of their four Bundesliga games in his absence. No question: BVB are clearly a better team with the fast and potent centre forward in the side. And: Haaland's strike partner Jadon Sancho appears to be back on form. The Englishman has been involved in four goals in the New Year, which is only one less than in the previous 13 games. If these two 20-year-olds are on song then they can pose major problems for any defence in the world.
The performances of the young Dortmund side are still subject to big ups and downs. It was already a problem under Favre. Terzic appears to have have brought more stability to the team but the Black and Yellows have consistently failed to live up to their full potential. In the 3-1 win at Leipzig, Sancho, Haaland & Co. shone in the second half with outstanding football that overcame the impressive, second-placed team from Saxony. A week later, everything certainly did not go right against the bottom team from Mainz. "We rarely tried to move the opposition and make them tired from running," Terzic complained.
On a good day, this highly talented team can definitely beat any side in the world and play out of their skins. It is logical that this is not constantly possible with such a lot of young key players. Terzic now has to ensure greater stability. Dortmund certainly have huge potential to develop – and thereby create opportunities for the future.
Winger Synne Skinnes Hansen is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the end of the season. The 29-year-old, who will be out of contract, is set to join Valerenga IF back home in Norway.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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Analysing and further developing goalkeeping together is the target of the annual goalkeeping coaches meeting of the German Football Association (DFB). The goalkeeping coaches in the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the third division, divided into regional groups, meet every year under the guidance of DFB goalkeeping coordinator Marc Ziegler. Following 2023, the meeting of the goalkeeping coaches of professional clubs from the Western region took place yesterday, Tuesday 29 April, at the BayArena for the second time. The Werkself goalkeeping coach David Thiel acted as the host of the meeting and he made an impromptu contribution.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed to loan U19 striker Artem Stepanov to FC Nürnberg, currently tenth in Bundesliga 2, for the 2025/26 season. The Ukrainian centre-forward is set to gain match practice at a high level under the guidance of FCN coach and World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. The loan is due to run for twelve months.
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