In front of a crowd of 3,076 at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, Borussia Dortmund's U23s lost 2-1 against Sportclub Verl. Richmond Tachie's goal in the 40th minute of the match gave the team a 1-0 half-time lead. A strong phase by the visitors at the beginning of the second half turned the match on its head.

The opponent: For the opponents Verl, important points were at stake on Friday evening in their fight against relegation. The East Westphalians were one point from moving away from the last relegation spot. Coach Michél Kniat's team had recently won two convincing matches against Saarbrücken and Wiesbaden.

Personnel matters: BVB coach Enrico Maassen made five changes to his starting eleven. Stefan Drljaca, Ted Tattermusch, Marco Hober, Berkan Taz and Timo Bornemann replaced Luca Unbehaun, Justin Njinmah, Immanuel Pherai, Niklas Dams and Bradley Fink.

The match & analysis: BVB started offensively and had the first attempt on goal from Guille Bueno after only 50 seconds. BVB then enjoyed more possession but rarely managed to get into any dangerous areas, partly because Verl defended so compactly.

After just under half an hour, Berkan Taz had the best BVB chance so far when he was a step too late after a pass from Richmond Tachie. BVB goalkeeper Stefan Drljaca, however, hadn’t had a save to make up to that point and matters remained uneventful around his penalty area.

Five minutes before the end of the first half, BVB were rewarded with the 1-0 lead when Richmond Tache beat the visiting goalkeeper Thiede from close range. The team went into the half-time break still holding this lead.

After the break, the visitors were more active and scored the equaliser in the 56th minute. The substitute Rabihic had overcome Stefan Drljaca after a one-two with his teammate. Only six minutes later, the East Westphalians had turned the game around: a shot by Lukas Petkov from a half-left position went into the goal off the right-hand post. Afterwards, BVB came more and more into the game again, but decimated itself a quarter of an hour before the final whistle: Richmond Tachie was sent off after being booked twice following repeated foul play.

The Sportclub controlled the last minutes with their man advantage and managed to hold on to their narrow lead, also because Franz Pfanne missed a penalty in injury time. For the time being, BVB remains eighth in the table with 49 points.

BVB U23s: Drljaca – Maloney, Pfanne, Finnsson – Tattermusch (71. Pohlmann), Hober, Viet, Bueno – Tachie, Taz (56. Bah-Traore), Bornemann (86. Bafounta)

Goals: 1:0 Tachie (40.), 1:1 Rabihic (56.), 1:2 Petkov (63.)

Special note: Richmond Tachie was sent off in the 75th minute after picking up two yellow cards.

Outlook: Next Saturday, the U23 will travel to play 1860 München at Grünwalder Stadion in Munich for the last match of the season at 14:00 CET.