He set the signs for a late victory.

Before Axel Witsel scored Dortmund's goal of the day to make it 1-0 after a free kick from Reyna from close range (87th minute), which was enthusiastically acclaimed by players and fans alike in this Bundesliga catch-up game, Emre Can was the hero of the dirty work in focus confessed to Borussia.

The German-Turkish player from Frankfurt, who has been at BVB since 2020, repeatedly drove his opponents from 1. FSV Mainz 05 into the parade on Wednesday evening when the Dortmunders were in acute danger of scoring.

As was the case in the first half in particular, when coach Bo Svensson’s team put pressure on the second-placed in the table after a two-day break due to 14 corona cases in their own ranks.

The rescuer Can was challenged in the third minute when he prevented Onisiwo from scoring.

13 minutes later he stopped the tempo run of the Mainz midfield strategist Stach shortly before the end.

Eleven minutes later he blocked Burkardt's shot five meters from the Dortmund goal, which could have meant 1-0 for Rheinhessen, and clenched his fists with enthusiasm.

The 35-time national player Can, who has been heavily criticized for his occasional carelessness in the build-up game and defensive behavior, went ahead of Borussia with his tirelessness when it came to accepting a fighting game with body and soul.

When the happy victory against the usual rebellious Mainz team was certain, the man of the evening said about the black and yellow joint effort: "It wasn't the nicest game.

But we intervened as a team and scored the winning goal late on.

We came together as a team.”

Not fancy, but important

The Bundesliga runners-up, up to four points behind the class leader and defending champion Bayern Munich, are discovering over the past few weeks that even sweaty duels without artwork decorations have their appeal and, most importantly, are well received by the fans.

"A group that acts together and is able to win big games" - that's how coach Marco Rose defined the goal he was aiming for, after the dogged showdown that didn't seem like it had been for a long time.

Even though Bayern are in sight again and the big showdown between the two best German teams on Matchday 31 in Munich is imminent, the BVB soccer coach preferred to talk about the current state of his team.

Without losing sight of sick or injured greats like Marco Reus, Mats Hummels, Raphael Guerreiro or Manuel Akanji and other regulars, who are also missing this time.

The fact that squad players that are sometimes overlooked, such as right-back Passlack, central defender Pongracic, who appears to be rock-solid after a few mistakes, and left-back Schulz, who is sometimes reviled and almost offside as yesterday's national team player, defeated their leader Can both in the 1-0 win against Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday and in the 1 :0 actively and unselfishly assisted in Mainz, created the defensive basis for both work wins over two bulky opponents.

"The boys gave it their all, that was really good," Rose praised his collective, which was born out of the lack of personnel.

The fact that in the end nobody had to ask Dortmund's standard question about mentality was another valuable insight after all the hardship in addition to the three points.

Rose, once a regular in the 05s, put the overall impression that the Black and Yellows had made, which could be improved in terms of play, into perspective.

"I don't know if you've ever seen a team here that played games without end."

When the Mainz fighters, especially those who, like coach Svensson, got out of the Corona quarantine at the weekend, finally ran out of breath, BVB finally gained control of a previously wild game with more ball possession.

This is one of the reasons why the 33-year-old temporary captain Witsel, one of the best in his team, was able to reward himself with his first goal of the season.

For a tireless team player like him, whose contract is expiring and will probably not be renewed, a nice gift on a day of hard work that has paid off.