The whistle blew ... it was the end of the game and the score was 4-1 to BVB, they had broken the duck and ended the losing streak with a convincing 4-1 thumping of Hannover, well that's what you would think looking at that scoreline but as big as the scoreline margin was but lets take a step back to the beginning.....
the game got off to a bit of a slow start with both sides keeping possession well and passing was at times neat and tidy.
Through the first 36 mins BVB used their possession better than Hannover in creating a few chances that were put wide and or not taken advantage of by Barrios , Grosskreutz , Zidan and Sahin respectively. then in the 37th min the game for the wrong reasons had a burst of life when Lucas Barrios received a yellow card which to the disheartening groans of the fans meant he was to miss next weeks clash against Gelsenkirchen.
A little over 2 mins later more life of the bad kind was given to the game when yet another yellow card was handed out , this time to Hummels, what followed was another quiet period until a corner from Sahin resulted in a headed flick from Barrios which met with the head of Subotic who slotted into the bottom right corner to give BVB a 1-0 lead going into half time.
The 2nd half began with BVB asserting a bit more pressure on Hannover , with Sahin pushing forward through more and more and this pressure resulting in a mistake from Hannovers Eggimann in the 62 min who putting the ball into his own net gifted BVB a 2-0 lead.
Shortly after this Klopp made 2 substitutions bringing on Valdez and Hajnal for Zidan and Barrios, Hannover were making very little attacking impact but for a shot from Christian Schulz which duly went wide, BVB however were still going strong now with 2 shots from Kuba with one missing the target and the other forcing a save from the keeper.
Then the pressure finally paid off with recent addition Valdez putting the ball into the back of the net and making the score now 3-0 in the 77th min, things were looking up for BVB now and the game was looking safe and the 3 points theirs but in the 81st min Arouna Koné grabbed what was to be a consolation goal for the visitors to make it 3-1.
Grosskreutz seemed to be stepping up his play with a a shot that unfortunately fell off target , the next few mins saw Santana come on for Bender and in the 88th min in a Hummels inspired play the ball was fed through to Grosskreutz put the ball in the back of the net and left no doubts as to the winners of the game were. the end result was 4-1 and in cementing the 3 points BVB finally broke the hoodoo of no home win against Hannover since 2003
the focus and thoughts now turn to next weeks game against Gelsenkirchen with BVB hoping to add to this win with a derby win against their neighbours.
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller - Owomoyela, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Bender, Sahin - Kuba, Zidan, Großkreutz - Barrios.
Hannover 96: Fromlowitz - Chahed, Eggimann, Durica, Rausch - Lala, Schulz - Balitsch, Elson, Schlaudraff - Koné.
Goals: 1:0 Subotic (43 min), 2:0 Eggimann (60., min) 3:0 Valdez (77 min), 3:1 Kone (81 min), 4:1 Großkreutz (88 min).
Subs: 62. Valdez and Hajnal for Zidan und Barrios, 83. Santana for Bender - 61. Stajner for Schlaudraff, 68. Pinto for Lala, 79. Hanke for Rausch
Borussia Dortmund look to splash doubts of a lack of good form and are setting their sights on Frankfurt. Dortmund fell last weekend 1-4 against a strong Suttgart side away from home. The Westfalen return home and will have the support of 70,000 or more fans rooting for them for the clash against Frankfurt on Sunday (17.30).
Dortmund will have Mohamad Zidan back in the squad and it appears that Sven Bender is fit. Bender will be a game time decision, but in training today he had no pain from an earlier complication from the knee. Dortmund will be missing star midfielder Kuba who is suffering from back problems. Felipe Santana is still making a recovery from a bone bruise but the prognosis is looking better.
Frankfurt have a strew of their own players missing but much of their starting eleven has not been badly effected. Big Star missing from Frankfurt is the Greek forward Amanatidis. Dortmund can cushion their lead on Frankfurt in a European place with a win. Frankfurt is eight points behind Dortmund and a win would see Dortmund move eleven points clear of Frankfurt. Dortmund currently sit fourth in the table on 36 points and are looking ambitiously to play European football this year.
Possible Lineups:
Borussia Dortmund: Ziegler - Owomoyela, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Bender (Santana), Sahin - Valdez, Zidan, Großkreutz - Barrios.
Bench: Höttecke - Dede, Hünemeier, Santana, Hajnal, Götze, Ginczek, Stiepermann.
Questionable: Bender, Barrios, Santana.
Missing: Weidenfeller, Kuba, Kehl, Tinga, Feulner, Rangelov, Öztekin.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Nikolov - Franz, Russ, Chris, Spycher - Teber - Ochs, Meier, Liberopoulos, Köhler - Altintop.
Bench: Fährmann - Jung, Heller, Tsoumou, Caio, Toski, Titsch-Rivero
Questionable: Chris, Teber.
Missing: Petkovic, Vasoski, Bajramovic, Korkmaz, Clark, Fenin, Amanatidis, Schwegler, Tosun, Alvarez.
Referee: Unknown
Yellow Card Tally: Barrios, Sahin, Valdez, Schmelzer (all 4) - Teber (9), Ochs (4).
Attendance: 70,000(unofficial number)
Having received no red cards or yellow-red cards and only picking up 31 yellow cards in total, Borussia Dortmund are ranked fairest team in the Bundesliga. But going into the match against Eintracht Frankfurt four players will have to be on their best behaviour.
Lucas Barrios, Nelson Valdez, Nuri Sahin and Marcel Schmelzer have all accumulated 4 yellow cards each. Meaning if they get one more booking they will face a match ban. Which would only add to the teams personnel problems at the moment, with a few key players out injured.
Borussia Dortmund were held to a draw by Bayer Leverkusen in the first Bundesliga match after the winter break.
The first half saw Leverkusen very early on create the better play and seem to take control. With good build up play leading to an early chance for in form Leverkusen striker Patrick Helmes whos effort in the end barely troubling Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller.
After that short scare it seemed to shake up Dortmund into action who started to begin to look a bit more threatening, with a chance in the 18th minute giving Alexander Frei a chance to strike after a pass gave him jump start on the Leverkusen defence, only for keeper Rene Adler to make a tough challenge causing Frei's effort to creep wide of the goal.
While both sides continued to enjoy good posession , the thing that let them down was failure to convert it into chances, until a defensive lapse From Leverkusen's Lukas Sinkiewicz saw his attempted clearance blocked by a determined from Dortmund's Patrick Owomoyela.
Which led to the ball falling to Swiss striker Alexader Frei who capitalized on the error and headed home a 1-0 lead for Dortmund.
Despite a late flurry by Leverkusen before the end of the first half which saw a good opprtunity for an equilizer fall to Barnetta who subsequently could only hit it wide.
