Dortmund fail to overcome "cold start", fall to defeat against Leverkusen

Patrick Shick and Jeremie Frimpong celebrate scoring the early 2-0 on Friday night.

Lars Baron, Getty Images

A wave of illness affecting both the BVB camp and intended match official Sascha Stegemann saw the 2025 portion of the 2024/25 Bundesliga campaign get off to a wild and somewhat sloppy start at Signal Iduna Park on Friday evening. Xabi Alonso's Bayer 04 Leverkusen took advantage of a makeshift Borussia Dortmund defensive line, converting all three of their opening scoring opportunities and rushing out to a 3-1 lead over their hosts. Nuri Sahin's BVB were unable to battle back and carry their fine 2024 home form into the new year. 

The official start of the Bundesliga's new calendar year certainly didn't go smoothly. To begin with, kickoff was delayed for a full quarter-of-an-hour due to traffic conditions preventing the hosting team from arriving on time. Leverkusen contributed their own surprise when - after the release of the initial team sheet - German phenom Florian Wirtz was a late scratch from the XI. Xabi spoke only of an "internal" matter that wasn't injury related in a pre-match interview with German broadcaster DAZN. 

Meanwhile, the wave of illness affecting the Dortmund camp led to senior team starting debuts for BVB II youngsters Almugera Kabar and Yannik Lührs. As the Dortmund shape crystalized shortly after kickoff, the entirely new back-four didn't end up lining up in the matter anticipated. Versatile Norwegian veteran Julian Ryerson served in central defense alongside Lührs while Kabar worked in the left-back position. This arrangement encountered problems from the start. 

After 26 seconds of action, Edmond Tapsoba intercepted a failed Yan Couto clearance. Tapsoba fed Robert Andrich, who in turn headed on for Nathan Tella. The English attacker thundered home the 1-0 from the edge of the box. It literarily took only three touches for Leverkusen to score the opening goal. The nightmare would continue unabated. 

Tapsoba easily split the BVB defensive ranks in the 8th, allowing Piero Hincapie to slide a ball across to Patrick Schick for the 2-0. Hincapie had plenty of space in which to operate. Additionally, neither Shtick nor his attacking colleague Jeremie Frimpong were marked on the play. Despite all the defensive organization, the hosts were able to pull a goal back four minutes later. 

Andrich inadvertently kicked a Couto shot into the path of Jamie Gittens. The BVB Englishman was able to beat an onrushing Lukas Hradecky to the ball at the far post and sneak in the 1-2 from a tight angle in the 12th. Dortmund''s hope of clawing their way back into the match would prove short lived. Grimaldo and Frimpong made a mockery out of marking from Kabar and Ryerson when setting up Schick's 3-1 in the 19th. 

The match obviously couldn't hope to sustain the early momentum. After all four of the game's first shots all produced goals, there were more than a few lulls as the opening 45 played out. To their credit, Dortmund did settle down in possession. Serhou Guirassy (28th) and Maximilian Beier (42nd) also tested Hradecky with stinging efforts. 

Leverkusen's basic strategy revolved around allowing their hosts to maintain possession and hoping to capitalize on more mistakes from the defenders. Indeed, Dortmund racked up 82 percent of possession in the first half. The tactic didn't change in the second half, with Sahin's side at least mitigating the damage by making fewer errors. 

Schick missed the best chance to put the game to bed, and secure a hat trick for himself, with a poor effort on goal from a great position in the 61st. Dortmund were granted a lifeline 15 minutes from time when substitute match official Tobias Stieler awarded a penalty. Edmond Tapsoba interfered with Julian Duranville in the box. 

A VAR review confirmed that Duranville didn't have much of chance of getting the ball, but the spot-kick was awarded anyway. Guirassy drew Dortmund within one goal from the spot 79th. Tapsoba recovered to make several key defensive stops as Sahin threw everything forward in pursuit of an equalizer that never came.