Tag: Nico Schlotterbeck

Dortmund produce stunning comeback in Der Klassiker draw vs. Bayern

Scenes at Signal Iduna Park!

The latest edition of Der Klassiker produced some classic late drama.

Borussia Dortmund — with Gio Reyna not in uniform, and trailing 2-0 in the 73rd minute — came back to snatch a point, with Anthony Modeste nodding home an equalizer in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Bayern had taken the lead in the 33rd minute, with Leon Goretzka’s 24-yard shot sneaking through traffic before getting under Alexander Meyer’s dive. Early in the second half, Leroy Sané doubled the lead, overpowering Meyer with another long-range rocket.

Dortmund, in truth, didn’t look likely to get back into the game, with Bayern coasting to what looked like an eighth straight win in Der Klassiker across all competitions.

However, the home side caught Bayern flat-footed in the 74th minute, with Modeste slashing in behind the defense before squaring to 17-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko, who finished the chance to give Dortmund some hope. In scoring, Moukoko become the youngest-ever player to score a Der Klassiker goal.

Dortmund were pushing to get level, but even Kingsley Coman being sent off in the 90th minute for picking up a second yellow card seemed irrelevant. Modeste had a glorious 83rd minute chance, but somehow contrived to never make clean contact with the ball from six yards out, turning a sitter into arguably nothing more than Manuel Neuer calmly picking up a cross.

With just eight seconds left in the four minutes of stoppage time given, Karim Adeyimi — the Dortmund player furthest from the Bayern goal, as Meyer had come forward for a set piece moments earlier — lobbed a desperate ball into the area, but it ran long. Bayern were surely walking out with a win.

However, Nico Schlotterbeck didn’t accept that outcome, and just barely managed to keep the ball in bounds, falling over in the process. With no one able to close him, Schlotterbeck scrambled to his feet and tried to clip the ball to the back post. Josip Stanišić arrived to attempt a block, but the ball appeared to glance off of his thigh and into a perfect spot for the charging Modeste, who headed the ball down to set off wild celebrations at Signal Iduna Park.

The comeback, per ESPN, was the first time Dortmund had gotten even a point against Bayern after trailing 2-0 since 1989. It also came with additional bad news for Die Roten, who saw Alphonso Davies leave the match at halftime after taking a high boot to the face.

Watch all the goals from Dortmund vs. Bayern

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Haaland scores unreal Champions League goal as Man City downs Borussia Dortmund

Nico Schlotterbeck may not know how to stop Haaland after all

What does a team playing Manchester City even do about Erling Haaland?

No team in the world would have a better idea about that than Borussia Dortmund, but all they could do is watch as their former superstar striker produced a preposterous goal to give Man City a 2-1 comeback victory over the German side in the Champions League on Wednesday.

A day after Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck said “I know how to stop Haaland,” the Norway striker proved that statement to be not entirely true. Schlotterbeck didn’t start for Dortmund, but that appeared largely irrelevant. Haaland wasn’t particularly involved, and Dortmund entered the final minutes of the match up 1-0 on a Jude Bellingham goal.

However, Man City’s pressure paid off. With Dortmund forced to defend too deep for too long, they made the choice to hunker down, bringing Schlotterbeck in for Anthony Modeste in the hopes that an extra defender would see them through.

However, Dortmund just kept being too deep, and that gave room for John Stones to launch a rocket from out on the right to equalize in the 80th minute.

If Stones’ goal was a top-tier strike, what came next for Haaland was in the stratosphere. João Cancelo used the outside of his right foot to scoop a sumptuous pass into the area, but even with perfect delivery, Haaland was marked on both sides. Even the best strikers would have a hard time ensuring that their run took them away from one marker, and still gave them an angle to beat the other to the ball.

Haaland did both of those things, but added a level of difficulty to it by somewhat inexplicably opting against a leap for a header. Instead, he did a nearly full splits, hopping up with his right foot and using his left to acrobatically stab the ball past Alexander Meyer.

Oh, and the person marking him most closely as all that was going on? Apologies to Schlotterbeck, but at least he got the best look at an incredible goal.

It was impressive as it was vital, as a road draw for Dortmund would have given the German side a slight edge in the race to win Group G. Haaland’s late winner instead gives Man City a three-point edge after just two rounds of games, and with two meetings with group minnows FC Copenhagen still to come.

The goal just adds to Haaland’s spectacular start to life in Manchester. He has 13 goals in just nine appearances so far, including at least one goal in each of Man City’s last six competitive matches.

Watch Haaland defy gravity to score Man City’s winner

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