Dortmund’s Adeyemi faces a fine for his emotional reaction to being substituted

By Canadian Press on December 20, 2025.

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund forward Karim Adeyemi faces being fined by the club for his emotional reaction to being substituted, sporting director Sebastian Kehl has said.

The German winger walked past the Dortmund bench and headed toward the locker room after being taken off in the 60th minute of his team’s 2-0 Bundesliga win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday. Kehl was shown catching Adeyemi by the arm to prevent him from leaving as the pair exchanged words.

“I told him, ‘You’re not going to the locker room, sit down,’ and to be honest the substitution was partly justified. Karim didn’t have a good game,” Kehl told broadcaster Sky after the game.

“It just doesn’t work like this. The coach makes a decision and the players need to accept that,” he added. “We don’t want to see this reaction and so he’ll get a fine for that.”

Dortmund’s win over Gladbach extended its unbeaten Bundesliga run to eight games and cut the gap to leader Bayern Munich to six points, though Bayern plays Sunday.

Despite that, the team’s recent form across all competitions has been mixed. There were boos from the crowd at the end of a draw with Norway’s Bodo/Glimt that left Dortmund 10th in the Champions League and a German Cup third-round loss at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen.

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

The Associated Press