Having beaten FC Gießen 2-0 on Wednesday, Borussia Dortmund tasted defeat in their second friendly of the 2021/22 season on Saturday: the Black & Yellows lost 3-1 (0-0) to VfL Bochum in Duisburg.

The match was part of the "schauinsland-reisen Cup der Traditionen", which host club MSV Duisburg should have taken part in. But three corona cases in the camp meant that Duisburg had to withdraw from the event.  

Dortmund boss Rose was still without a number of the EURO participants and the injured trio of Morey, Zagadou and Coulibaly. Haaland, who only resumed training this week, was also missing from the team sheet. However, Kobel and Reyna, who both made the starting XI, returned to the fray after having missed the Gießen game. It was goalkeeper Kobel's first-ever appearance in a Dortmund shirt.

BVB dominated possession in front of 41,000 spectators but initially failed to create chances, while Bochum posed a threat on the counter but could not get the better of centre-backs Papadopoulos and Maloney. Tigges missed the best opportunity so far after being teed up with a Reyna flick, firing over from a central position. Bochum then hit the side-netting twice through Kotchap (21) and Hartwig (27) before the Black & Yellows registered their next chance. Tigges first fired narrowly wide from a few metres out after Reyna had done well to break through (32). Five minutes later, Schulz picked out Reus from the left but he could not bring the ball under control on the penalty spot. Wolf shot at goal following another Reyna set-up in the 40th minute but it was straight at Bochum goalie Riemann.

As was the case in Gießen, the Black & Yellows rotated completely at the interval and brought on 11 players from the U23s. It again took a quarter of an hour for the first chance to materialise, though this time it fell to Bochum as Ganvoula tested Unbehaun with a hard hit from a tight angle. The Dortmund shot-stopper made an outstanding save, however. But eventually Bochum found the net: Novothny first opened the scoring at the near post in the 66th minute, then two minutes later Ganvoula headed home from a corner to double the lead. Bochhorn then scored a direct free-kick from 17 metres out to make it 3-0 in the 78th minute. BVB pulled a goal back with seven minutes remaining when Pasalic surged into the box following a quickly taken free-kick and hammered home to make it 3-1.
Christina Reinke

BVB 1st half: Kobel – Passlack, Papadopoulos, Maloney, Schulz – Dahoud, Brandt – Wolf, Reyna, Reus – Tigges
BVB 2nd half: Unbehaun – Collins (Finnsson, 64), Dams, Thaqi – Taz, Hober, Pfanne, Pasalic – Raschl – Tachie, Pherai
Goals: 0-1 Novothny (66), 0-2 Ganvoula (68), 0-3 Bockhorn (78), 1-3 Pasalic (83)