Kobel howler sparks Bayern rout of Dortmund
An early goalkeeping error from Gregor Kobel proved to be Borussia's Dortmund's downfall on Saturday evening. The title-aspirants are back in second place after the newly Thomas Tuchel led FC Bayern dismantled die Schwarzgelben.
| Gregor Kobel. | Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Tuchel's first starting XI featured two changes to the side that lost to Leverkusen just prior to the international break. Kingsley Coman and the once-again fit Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting took the place of Joao Cancelo and Sadio Mané. BVB trainer Terzic was able to welcome back Julian Brandt, Emré Can, and Gregor Kobel. Alexander Meyer, Donyell Malen, and Mohammed Dahoud moved to the bench.
Afer a tense and evenly-matched opening 13 minutes, during which a Matthijs de Ligt tackle on Marco Reus in the 7th saved Bayern from conceding an opening goal, a Gregor Kobel howler enabled Leroy Sané to shepherd a ball right across the line. Kobel whiffed on an attempted clearance of a Dayot Upamecano ball in the 13th.
Five minutes after Kobel's own-goal, it was 2-0. De Ligt headed a Kimmich corps over to an unmarked Thomas Müller at the far post line. The German footballing legend, unmarked, simply let the ball bounce in off his thigh in the 18th. Five minutes after that, Müller had a brace and the 3-0. Kobel - again looking weak in the 23rd - spilled a rebound from a Sané effort directly into the path of the lurking Müller.
Bayern officially sewed matters up shortly after the restart. Sané set up Coman relatively easily with a slot-through in the 50th. Neither side played much after the 4-0. Bayern saw two goals disallowed for for offside. Can pulled one goal back from the penalty spot in the 72nd. The subbed-on Malen rendered the scoreline very flattering with a second goal as the match headed into second half injury time.
