Bullied Borussia Dortmund Squander Chance in Bundesliga Title Race at Leverkusen

It was all on a silver plate for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday evening.

Bayern Munich had dropped their first two points of the Carlo Ancelotti era, with a 1-1 draw with high-flying FC Cologne spoiling not only the Italian’s perfect league record, but also the team’s Oktoberfest trip. A win would have put Dortmund just one point behind the Bavarian giants ahead of the international break.

A win would also have put the Black and Yellows eight points ahead of their opponents Bayer Leverkusen, arguably their biggest rivals for second place this season. Two birds, one stone. What unfolded in BayArena, however, was far from Dortmund making good use of this golden opportunity.

A thoroughly deserved 2-0 defeat not only saw Bayern win a point on the Ruhr side and Leverkusen draw closer, it also confirmed a worrying trend for Thomas Tuchel’s team. Once again, his side crumbled under pressure, with the hosts physically dominating the match from the first to the final whistle.

Leverkusen executed a similar game plan to the one RB Leipzig had beaten Dortmund with on Matchday 2, only that the Rhinelanders arguably did it even better. Of course, the flow of the game played into their hands.

It’s moot to speculate how the game may have turned out had Julian Weigl not lost his footing in the 10th minute and allowed Admir Mehmedi a free header off a Hakan Calhanoglu corner—a slight push from the Switzerland international was enough to throw Weigl off his tracks, it was a good no-call from referee Manuel Grafe.

The goal was almost a symbolic scene for the entire match. Much like Mehmedi bullied Weigl, Leverkusen bullied Dortmund. The hosts walked a tightrope between playing hard and playing unfair, as they registered 21 fouls compared to seven for Dortmund, per sport magazine Kicker (link in German), but Grafe was lenient in dishing out bookings.

Captain Marcel Schmelzer, who watched on from the bench in the first period, said after the game, per the club’s official website: “In the first half it was a little excessive. But in football you are allowed to go in hard and that’s why yellow cards are given.”

Tuchel, meanwhile, lamented in his post-match press conference that it was the third time opponents had accumulated more than 20 fouls against his team. Considering how little Dortmund created from the following free-kicks, however, they only have themselves to blame.

With their firm grasp on the game, Leverkusen put the clamps on the Black and Yellows in midfield. Roger Schmidt’s team were happy to concede possession and allowed Dortmund to pass the ball back and forth in their own half.

It’s no coincidence that the visitors’ three most defensive players, centre-halves Matthias Ginter and Sokratis Papastathopoulos and right-back …

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