Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel threw up his arms energetically, his colleagues hugged each other extensively. It was actually just a must-win for Borussia Dortmund against a relegation candidate, but the exuberant joy made it clear: the BVB pros are increasingly believing that they will be in the title fight for a long time to come.
"Nobody's crying," said winger Marius Wolf with a smile when asked about the mood in the locker room with the new leader. With the 1-0 (1-0) at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Dortmund celebrated their seventh win in the seventh game in 2023 in the Bundesliga and took the lead in the table – at least for 26 hours before the hit between FC Bayern Munich and Union Berlin on Sunday (5.30 p.m.) is over. "We're playing for the championship, that's clear," said Kobel.
Brandt: "A very, very strong snapshot"
Goal scorer Julian Brandt explained how happy he was after the final whistle: "It wasn't an easy game, we strained our luck a bit. It's a very, very strong snapshot - but you can quickly ruin it again." Especially since RB Leipzig, a title rival, is coming to Dortmund on Friday.
The BVB fans were already singing about the title - and BVB coach Edin Terzic didn't dampen the enthusiasm at all, but philosophized at the press conference: "Not only the fans, but everyone should dream. Neither the team nor I get paid for dreaming . Dreaming will not help us to go into the next game and win. However, we will not forbid anyone in this world to dream."
National coach Flick in the stands
In front of 30,150 spectators in the sold-out Sinsheim stadium - including national coach Hansi Flick - Brandt (43rd minute) scored the goal of the day. With his back, the national player extended Marco Reus' sharply kicked ball into the net - his eighth goal of the season and the fourth in the fourth game in a row.
"Of course we're very, very happy about the win today, but we're far from done," announced Terzic. BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl had refused a title announcement in view of Dortmund's high flight before the kick-off - "because we know where we come from," he said in the Sky interview. "When the time comes, we will also deal with the topic. But it's still too early."
Third defeat for TSG coach Matarazzo
At the crisis club from Kraichgau, the new coach Pellegrino Matarazzo conceded his third defeat in a row since taking office, even if his team showed a lot of improvement. So Dortmund had to tremble a few times. "We simply forgot the second goal, we have to take credit for that," said Wolf.
Hoffenheim thus matched the club record of twelve games without a win from 2008/2009, when TSG under Ralf Rangnick fell from first place in their debut season in the upper house and slipped down to 16th relegation place. "I think we were competitive," said the strong goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, rightly so.
After the change, Hoffenheim briefly hoped for a penalty: Emre Can had touched Kevin Akpoguma on the edge of the penalty area and referee Martin Petersen watched the scene again on the video screen, but then gave the dropped ball. Shortly thereafter, the Stuttgart player took back a goal from Wolf (56th) in another VAR decision: Nico Schlotterbeck had previously stepped on Ihlas Bebou's foot.
Matarazzo did not agree at all with the decision in the first scene: "He met him, I still need some clarification." Terzic saw it differently. "Of course we have to talk about the referee because he was very brave. I think the referee did a really good job today." The BVB coach did not complain about Wolf's canceled goal.
