display
The call came from somewhere from the crowd of Mainz players who were standing on the edge of the box.
“He's shooting,” someone shouted just before Marco Reus wanted to run for the penalty kick.
Reus turned around briefly, as if he wanted to see who had disturbed his concentration.
Then he ran - and shot the ball next to the goal.
If he had scored, Borussia Dortmund would very likely have won the game against the bottom of the table.
But it stayed at 1: 1 (0: 0).
After the final whistle, the vice-champion's captain was contrite.
"I have to apologize to the team," he said.
He was not only referring to his missed shot from the point in the 75th minute.
Reus couldn't believe it after his missed shot
Source: dpa / Guido Kirchner
display
“I had a great chance in the first half where I just have to make it 1-0.
And then the penalty in the second half, "Reus quarreled:" I could have decided the game or at least steered it in the right direction. "
Zorc calls for improvement
The national player's self-critical statements were well received - both in the club and with the supporters.
Because they document that - regardless of the unexpected setback in the fight for the Champions League places on Saturday - the players are serious about the guidelines that were given to them by the club's management around the turn of the year.
"I expect that we will improve significantly," said sporting director Michael Zorc, and above all made the experienced players responsible and reminded them of what they had planned for themselves at the beginning of the season.
display
It looked as if BVB, spurred on by a controversial debate led by defense chief Mats Hummels (“We didn't play adult football too often”), should now deliver.
With Wolfsburg (2: 0) and Leipzig (3: 1), two direct competitors were beaten for international places.
Dortmund's weaknesses in the end
“We wanted to create a good starting position for the upcoming tasks against Mainz,” said Reus.
The goal was to score points after the mandatory task against the Rheinhessen in Leverkusen (Tuesday) and in Mönchengladbach (Friday).
In the back of my mind there was probably also the idea of putting pressure on Bayern, which were recently ailing.
This is where you will find third-party content
In order to interact with or display content from third parties, we need your consent.
Activate external content
I consent to content from third parties being displayed to me.
This allows personal data to be transmitted to third party providers.
This may require the storage of cookies on your device.
More information can be found here.
That went wrong.
Because on Saturday the Dortmund team failed not because of Mainz, but because of themselves. "Goals decide games", said coach Edin Terzic and struggled with a large number of chances that could not be used.
“We had several opportunities to score in the first half.
We kept coming back to the dangerous rooms, ”he explained.
display
In fact, the lack of opportunity was part of the problem.
The fact that the Mainz opening goal by Levin Öztunali, a shot from 21 meters, was quite durable, made things even more difficult.
BVB is losing patience
But serious - and above all unexpected - was the break in the game in the second half.
“That's when we stopped moving our opponents.
We had no more side shift in the game and no more chances, ”analyzed Terzic.
In fact, BVB simply lost patience against the defensive and well-defending Mainz team.
“My feeling was that we wanted to force it too much.
We tried too many times to play the deadly ball, too often tried to play the ball deep, ”the coach explained.
These are revealing sentences.
After all, it was Terzic who in recent weeks had asked his team to increase the risk and not - as was often the case under his predecessor Lucien Favre - to wear down the opponent with a short passing game and patiently wait for opportunities.
Not stable even under Terzic
This time, a mixture of both strategies would actually have been promising: on the one hand, to force the Mainz team to make mistakes through a high willingness to run and attack early - but on the other hand to remain patient and avoid losing the ball.
The Dortmunders only took the first part to heart.
It made the game hectic.
Reus and his fateful miss
Source: AP / Leon Kuegeler
"We didn't play forward in such a structured way, didn't hold our positions and played a bit wildly," said Reus.
This should not be repeated in the coming weeks.
The loss of points against Mainz documents that even under Terzic, BVB has not yet found the stability that a top team needs to be able to aim high.
The young trainer (38) promised to work on it.
This is where you will find third-party content
In order to interact with or display content from third parties, we need your consent.
Activate external content
I consent to content from third parties being displayed to me.
This allows personal data to be transmitted to third party providers.
This may require the storage of cookies on your device.
More information can be found here.