Borussia Dortmund came into Matchday 9 looking to exorcise their domestic-form demons. Winless in over a month, Dortmund played host to Hannover 96, one of Germany's worst away sides. What followed was anything but an exorcism as die Schwarzgelben lost 1-0 on a 61st minute Hiroshi Kiyotake free kick.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Hannover 96: Final score 0-1, BVB stifled again
Another game, another loss for Borussia Dortmund. This week, their conquerers were Hannover.
The first good chance of the game fell to the visitors in the 5th minute when Marius Stankevicius played an audacious throw-in directly into the BVB box. Leonardo Bittencourt was haphazardly marked, and only his poor volley saved Dortmund from conceding early.
After a terse first 10 minutes where Hannover was clearly the more dynamic side, Borussia Dortmund grew into the game. They registered their first chance in the 11th minute after a series of cross-field switches left the Hannover defense confused and vulnerable. Henrikh Mkhitaryan lashed a 20-yard laser of a shot that induced a brilliant diving save from Hannover keeper Ron-Robert Zieler. It wasn't Zieler's only brilliant save of the half, though; five minutes later, a Marco Reus corner kick found the head of Mats Hummels. The German international unleashed a thunderous header that Zieler deflected onto the post.
The first half was one-way traffic after the 10th minute as Dortmund incessantly pushed into the Hannover side of the field. Despite that, a disciplined Hannover defensive effort was the theme of the first half. The visitors held their line, putting Dortmund’s crosses and through balls onto the feet and heads of offside players, while Hannover looked to counter. Those counters that Hannover did earn were some of the most dangerous moments of the first half as Hummels had a shocker of a performance; his positional awareness was virtually non-existent at times.
The second half started with a bang as, just a minute in, a long cross from Łukasz Piszczek was misplayed by the Hannover defense. The ball fell to an unmarked Reus in acres of space. Reus’ powerful effort whistled just wide of the Hannover far post, to the collective dismay of the gathered fans. It was by far the best chance Borussia Dortmund had seen to that point.
In the 54th minute, a 50-yard pass from Hummels hit Piszcezk on the overlap before the Polish right back's cross hit Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in stride. The striker's first touch was poor and the ball squirted back to an open Marco Reus, whose first-time shot was clawed around the post by yet another perfectly-timed diving save from the Hannover keeper.
In the 60th minute, though, it was Hannover who broke the deadlock. A poor foul by İlkay Gündoğan gave Hannover a set piece just outside the Dortmund box. With Kiyotake to take the opportunity, the whistle sounded and the Japanese international hit a curling and dipping shot over the Dortmund wall. The ball dove viciously and bounced over the arm of the diving Roman Weidenfeller. Despite the dominance of BVB over the run of play, it was Hannover in the driver's seat now.
They almost doubled their lead minutes later, as Kiyotake took down a long ball over the top before lashing a strike directly at Weidenfeller. Shortly after that, another ball over the top found Joselu, whose shot forced another save from the Dortmund goalkeeper.
With Hannover dangerous on the break and now flexing their muscles, Jürgen Klopp flipped the script in attack, replacing the invisible Gündoğan with Shinji Kagawa. 10 minutes later, Klopp replaced Erik Durm with Sokratis and Adrián Ramos with Ciro Immobile. Those substitutions came with a tactical switch for Dortmund, as they shifted to a 3-5-2 system. That switch almost proved disastrous, as a moment of miscommunication between the Dortmund center backs nearly gifted Hannover their second goal. Luckily for Klopp and company, Weidenfeller was there to save their bacon.
Hannover handed BVB a lifeline in the 88th minute, as Ceyhun Gülselam earned his second yellow card to put the visitors down a man. However, it was a lifeline that Dortmund could not grab, despite the five minutes of added time. With this loss, Borussia Dortund now sit 15th in the Bundesliga - and the mutterings in the corners about this team are starting to become full-fledged questions.
Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Durm (73' Sokratis), Bender, Gündogan (65' Kagawa), Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Reus, Ramos (73' Immobile)
Hannover 96: Zieler, Stankevicius (72’ Hirsch), Marcelo, Felipe, Schulz, Gülselam, Schmiedebach, Bittencourt, Kiyotake (73’ Sobiech), Briand (90+ Schlaudraff), Joselu
Goals: Kiyotake (60’)
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