Bundesliga: Another BVB setback under Tullberg

Even interim coach Mike Tullberg was only able to partially stop Borussia Dortmund’s decline. His team, which played 70 minutes outnumbered, only managed a 2-2 (1-0) draw against Werder Bremen on Saturday after taking a 2-0 lead. Three days after parting ways with Nuri Sahin, BVB remained without a win in the fifth competitive game of the year. To make matters worse, Felix Nmecha was injured and Nico Schlotterbeck was shown a red card early on due to an emergency stop (21st minute).

In Leonardo Bittencourt (65th) and Marvin Duksch (72nd), two former Dortmund players equalized for the long-harmless guests. BVB had already taken a 2-0 lead thanks to Serhou Guirassy (28th) and an own goal from Marco Friedl (51st).

This means that the Hanseatic League, also still without a win in 2025, remains in the table ahead of the reeling Dortmund team, who are still hoping for a direct place in the round of 16 in the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

Once again there is a lot going against BVB

Early on in the Tullberg premiere there was a lot going against BVB. Nmecha was injured early on and had to be substituted after just twelve minutes. Marcel Sabitzer, who had recently been out of form, came into the team to replace the midfielder. The Austrian was one of four players that Tullberg took out of the starting line-up in comparison to the sobering 1:2 at FC Bologna in the Champions League. Immediately after this bankruptcy, Sahin was placed on leave.

Nine minutes later things got even tougher: Defense chief Schlotterbeck was sent off by referee Christian Dingert after an emergency stop against Bremen’s Marco Grüll. This was the fifth expulsion for the Black and Yellows – no other team has received more red cards so far this season than BVB.

After just over 20 minutes, Tullberg was missing the two best players from an otherwise completely unsettled team in recent weeks. Dortmund’s actual U19 coach said before the game that he wanted to see a team that “tears itself apart.” “You can make mistakes, but then you fix them in full sprint, with drool in your mouth, with a knife between your teeth,” the Dane clearly stated.

And the decimated team fought against early resistance. Seven minutes after being sent off, Guirassy headed in BVB’s lead following preparatory work from Bremen-born Julian Brandt.

From then on, Dortmund’s outnumbered side was hardly noticeable against the harmless guests until the break. If it was even remotely dangerous, it was in front of the Werder goal. Even after the change, Werder showed little effort to challenge Dortmund, who had started the year disastrously poorly with four defeats.

The guests conceded the second goal in the person of central defender Friedl. The creation of the goal after a free kick and Guirassy’s finish was far too easy for Dortmund.

He consistently lived out the passion that Tullberg had demanded of his team before the game on the sidelines. After the 2-0 win, he sprinted along the edge of the pitch as if out of his mind, shouting and repeatedly punching his fists in the air.

BVB is outnumbered and is running out of steam

But his team continued to suffer. As if out of nowhere, the previously completely harmless guests came back through a dream goal. Substitute Bittencourt chased a direct shot from a good 20 meters into the top corner of the goal, making it unstoppable for Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel. Suddenly the guests were there and just seven minutes later they actually equalized. Following preparatory work from Jens Stage, the Dortmund native Duksch made it 2-2.

Afterwards there was nothing more from the ten Dortmund players. BVB only defended one point. The renewed setback puts even greater pressure on the bosses to find a permanent successor to Sahin. It is unclear whether Tullberg will still be on the BVB bench on Wednesday against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

The Dortmund fans took a clear stance on the current situation before the game and also criticized the club management. “Address the elephant in the room. Problems don’t sit on the sidelines,” read a poster that could be seen in the south stand.