January 18th, 2025

Dortmund slumps to another loss in Bundesliga as pressure increases on coach


By Canadian Press on January 14, 2025.

BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 4-2 loss at promoted Holstein Kiel on Tuesday, piling the pressure on coach Nuri Sahin after the team’s worst opening half to the Bundesliga for 10 years.

After conceding three goals in the first half, the visitors clawed back two in the second through Gio Reyna and Jamie Gittens, but they were unable to capitalize on Kiel substitute Lewis Holtby’s late sending off in the 86th minute for a challenge from behind on Felix Nmecha.

Instead, with Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel in the opposition box for a corner in stoppage time, Fiete Arp sealed Kiel’s win by shooting the ball into the unguarded net on a counterattack.

Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck and Emre Can spoke with angry fans after the game, while the rest of the dejected players stood behind.

Dortmund had dominated possession but was caught out in the 27th when Julian Brandt lost the ball to Alexander Bernhardsson after a throw in. Bernhardsson surged forward and laid off the ball for Shuto Machino, who struck it straightway inside the left post from the edge of the penalty area.

Lasse Rosenboom crossed for Phil Harres to head the second goal just five minutes later.

It failed to stir a response from Dortmund. Bernhardsson duly scored the third goal before the break.

Sahin reacted with two changes, then two more for the last half hour. One of those, Reyna, pulled one back with a speculative effort from distance in the 71st, six minutes before Gittens got the second with a deflected shot.

Dortmund pushed for an equalizer but couldn’t prevent another defeat after Friday’s loss to Bayer Leverkusen.

Leverkusen, the defending champion, was aiming to stretch its winning run 10 games across all competitions with another victory at Mainz later, when Eintracht Frankfurt played Freiburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach visited Wolfsburg.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Ciarán Fahey, The Associated Press







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