BVB draw 2-2 against Alkmaar in friendly

The BVB players have completed five training sessions since their arrival on Wednesday. The task on Saturday was to implement the contents that they have worked on under competitive conditions in the first of their two friendlies during the training camp. Marius Wolf missed out with a respiratory infection. The injured Julian Ryerson, Felix Nmecha, Karim Adeyemi and Julien Duranville are in Marbella, but are completing their rehab on site and were not in contention to play anyway. 

Coach Edin Terzic lined his team-up in a 4-1-4-1 formation for the friendly against Alkmaar, which consisted of four lots of 30 minutes. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens first sparked into life in attack in the fourth minute but his shot from a tight angle was blocked. Three minutes later, Alkmaar took the lead: Vangelis Pavlidis scored following a move down the left flank and was left with a tap-in after receiving a square ball across the face of goal. Dortmund's attacking efforts were not sufficient to get a glimpse of goal. Time and time again, Borussia's moves were intercepted in midfield. Instead, it was the Dutch outfit that were the more dangerous: Jens Odgaard was played in behind with a through-ball, but Kobel held onto his attempt (14). BVB only registered a shooting opportunity following a set-piece, with Bynoe-Gittens firing over the frame of the goal from a corner (25).

There were no changes ahead of the second half, which was barely a minute old when Kobel made a save to deny Pavlidis. Donyell Malen fired narrowly wide to the right of goal two minutes later, before Kobel again came into focus: Dortmund's shot-stopper made a spectacular flying save to thwart an effort from Jayden Addai. But he was powerless two minutes later. Alkmaar took advantage of the fact that Dortmund had pushed far up in an attack and bypassed the midfield with a long ball. Addai played the ball to Odgaard, who had made the run with him and slotted home from the six-yard line to make it 2-0 to Alkmaar. Myron van Brederode then tested Kobel in the 44th minute. BVB continued to struggle, with the Black & Yellows only getting a brief glimpse of the opposition goal: Giovanni Reyna shot wide (46), while Julian Brandt's effort from range was blocked (49) and Malen fired the ball over the bar seconds later. Kobel came out on top when Pavlidis shot from a tight angle in the 57th minute. But it was BVB who rounded off the action in the second quarter: Bynoe-Gittens broke through strongly down the left wing and played a high ball into the midfield, where Niclas Füllkrug failed to generate enough pressure on his header and did not pose goalkeeper Rome Jayden Owusu any problems (59.).

New line-up for the third quarter

Edin Terzic rang the changes at the halfway point of the match. Only Hendry Blank, who had come on ahead of schedule to replace the injured Guille Bueno, stayed on the pitch. And BVB emerged from the changing rooms with more purpose, looked more committed and livelier. That was promptly rewarded with a goal back to make it 2-1: Marco Reus intercepted a pass from Owusu and squared to Marcel Sabitzer, who scored Dortmund's first goal of the day in the 63rd minute. Four minutes later, Nico Schlotterbeck headed the ball straight at Alkmaar's goalie. The Dutch outfit offered little, with BVB now registering the better opportunities. Youssoufa Moukoko initially fired the ball over the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box (74) and then misjudged his headed effort following a cross from Sabitzer (80). Reus broke through in the middle a short while later, Sabitzer lobbed the ball to him and Reus scored to level at 2-2 (80).

After the final change of sides, Reus missed from a central position in the 95th minute. But BVB kept the move alive and Bamba managed to get his foot to the ball, only for it to sail wide of the right upright. The match subsequently died down. BVB controlled the game, but without making any more inroads going forward. Salih Özcan's headed effort (102) and Cole Campbell's shot (108) lacked precision. In the 111th minute, Reus curled a free-kick towards the top-right corner but goalkeeper Tristan Kuijsten managed to get his fingertips to it. Shortly afterwards, Kjell Wätjen tested the goalkeeper with a low strike (114). The score remained 2-2, however.

BVB will face Standard Liège in their second friendly at 11:00 CET on Tuesday (9/1).

BVB: Kobel – Meunier, Süle, Hummels, Bueno (Blank, 42) – Can – Malen, Reyna, Brandt, Bynoe-Gittens – Füllkrug

BVB (from the 61st minute): Meyer – Morey (Wätjen, 105), Papadopoulos, Schlotterbeck, Blank – Özcan – Bamba (Campbell, 105), Reus, Sabitzer, Pohlmann ­– Moukoko (Brunner, 105)

Goals: 0-1 Pavlidis (7), 0-2 Odgaard (36), 1-2 Sabitzer (63), 2-2 Reus (80)
Christina Reinke