Borussia Dortmund 2-0 VfL Wolfsburg
Two injury-time goals from Paco Alcacer gave BVB a crucial win in front of a packed Signal Iduna Park to send his team back to the top of the Bundesliga.
It was a tense, tense match against a resilient Wolfsburg side, but after a subdued first half, the hosts came out on the attack in the second and eventually got their reward.
The result was a little harsh on Wolfsburg, who dropped out of the European places. But it was all smiles in the Dortmund dressing room when the news came through that FC Bayern had dropped points away to Freiburg.
The Bundesliga 2019 betting markets are still likely to favour the Bavarians, but this was a huge result for BVB’s title hopes.
Highlights of the game
Dortmund made a bright enough start to the match as the Yellow Wall roared on its heroes. Dan-Axel Zagadou had a good chance, but he headed just over from a well-aimed Raphael Guerreiro free-kick.
But this was always going to be a game in which the hosts had to be wary of a dangerous opponent. In a very tight first half, the visitors forced only two saves from Dortmund’s Roman Burki.
On 12 minutes, Maximilian Arnold passed to William in space on the right side of the penalty area. He shot low towards the right corner, but Burki got down well to save. At the other end, Alcacer got on the end of a Mario Gotze cross, but his right-footed effort flew just over the bar.
Burki was then called on again as Felix Klaus laid the ball off to Wout Weghorst just outside the box. Weghorst unleashed a fierce shot which Burki saved in the top right corner. The giant Dutch striker is Wolfsburg’s top scorer and almost added to his 12 goals with that effort.
Dortmund did have another try just before the break; Guerreiro supplied another Zagadou chance, but it was once again too high. As the teams walked off for half-time, the passionate BVB crowd hoped for better in the second 45.
The hosts did show more urgency at the start of the second half, and Wolfsburg keeper Koen Casteels was brought into action on the hour. He saved Jadon Sancho’s snapshot which was heading for the top right corner after Thomas Delaney had put the young England starlet in.
Alcacer then had a free-kick in a dangerous area, but he shot hopelessly high and wide. Guerreiro also had a shot saved comfortably by Casteels.
At the opposite end of the pitch, the dangerous Weghorst reminded the hosts he was there with a smart effort which flew narrowly wide.
The 81,000 fans packed into the Signal Iduna Park felt the sense of the urgency and continued to roar their team on. Guerreiro had another effort, this time forcing Casteels to stretch to the top corner.
Wolfsburg weren’t just sitting back waiting for the final whistle, though. And when William found Jerome Roussillon on the left side of the box, his shot whistled past Burki’s right-hand post.
With the clock ticking down, Sancho had a shot charged down after substitute Jacob Bruun Larsen had put him in. And in the last minute of normal time, William gave away a foul just outside the box.
The 81,000 people held their breath and then exploded into wild celebration as Alcacer hammered his free-kick into the net with 91 minutes on the clock.
And you can imagine the noise three minutes later when BVB broke up a Wolfsburg attack and countered quickly. Sancho laid the ball off to Alcacer and the Spaniard fired low into the net to spark pandemonium.
The celebrations just went on and on. And when the day’s Bundesliga 2019 results came in with FC Bayern being held to a draw by Freiburg, there was even more reason to party in Dortmund.
Key statistics
The first half was a cagey affair; neither team played with any great fluency and mustered just two shots apiece. While BVB didn’t manage one on target, Roman Burki had made two saves to keep the hosts level.
By the end of the game, the stats looked better for BVB with 11 shots to six and five to three on target.
Two weeks ago, a last-minute winner kept BVB level at the top with Bayern. And now, it was even better as two injury-time goals moved them ahead of the champions for the time being.
What’s next?
It all comes to a head for Borussia Dortmund next week when they have a crunch match away to FC Bayern, who gave Wolfsburg a 6-0 spanking very recently.
Keep it here through the week to see our SBOBET predictions for that potential title decider.
The result of that game will dictate their mood when they return to the Signal Iduna Park the following week to take on Mainz.
Meanwhile, Wolfsburg are at home to Hannover and then have a difficult away game to third-placed RB Leipzig.
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