Borussia Dortmund have won their second friendly of the year 2015. At the end of their training camp in La Manga, Spain, the Black and Yellows beat 25-time Romanian champions Steaua Bucharest 1-0 (0-0) but lost Sebastian Kehl and Kevin Grosskreutz through injury.

The only goal of the game came from second-half substitute Blaszczykowski in the 84th minute after BVB had missed a hatful of good chances, especially in the first half (19, 21, 42, 43 mins). Steaua’s best opportunity came on 51 minutes when the Romanian side were denied by the post.

The Scenario:

After a 1-0 win over Sion in a friendly on Tuesday, the game against Steaua Bucharest marked the end of BVB’s training camp in La Manga, with latter parts of the training sessions focussing on quick transitions and shooting drills. Steaua and BVB had met four times in competitive matches. All of those took place in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, with BVB winning three and drawing one. The most memorable match was a 5-3 victory in Dortmund on 4 December 1996,

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Sebastian was forced off shortly before the interval.

Personnel Matters:

BVB were without Nuri Sahin, Oliver Kirch, Henrikh Mkhitaryan und Lukasz Piszczek, who were all rested, as well as Sven Bender (knee), Erik Durm (thigh) and Adrian Ramos (match fitness). Also not available were Mitchell Langerak, Shinji Kagawa and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who are representing their countries at the Asia Cup of Nations and the Africa Cup of Nations, respectively. Overall, Borussia had to do without seven first-squad members, winter signing Kevin Kampl, however, was part of the starting eleven.

Tactics:

Borussia set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Ciro Immobilie playing the lone striker role and Jojic, Reus and Kampl being deployed behind him in attacking midfield roles. Sokratis played out of position as a left-back, while Grosskreutz occupied the right-back position, with Subotic and Hummels filling the centre-back roles. When Hummels was taken off at half-time, Sokratis moved into his position while second-half substitute Schmelzer took over on the left of defence.

The Game & Analysis:

Despite being put a tough training regime in the last couple of days, the Borussia Dortmund players started the match in a positive fashion, applying pressure high up the field to force errors from the Romanian outfit. Their first chance of the game through Immobile came as early as the first minute, the second one on 19 minutes when Sokratis broke through on the left before passing to Jojic whose effort went just wide. Two minutes later Kampl was denied by the Steaua goalkeeper after good work from Reus.

Steaua sat deep and allowed BVB a lot of possession, with their only chance of note in the first half coming after four minutes when Keseru was send clear on goal but fired his shot far wide of Weidenfeller’s goal.

Kehl suffers shoulder injury

Boussia would have deserved to lead by a goal or two at half-time as they carved out another two chances before the break, with Immobile being denied by Steaua keeper Cojocaru (42 mins) and Subotic directing a header just wide a minute later. Much worse, however, was the fact that Sebastian Kehl suffered a shoulder injury after colliding with Mats Hummels in the Steaua area that forced the former BVB skipper off the pitch.

The first chance after the interval fell to Steaua who were unlucky when a header hit the post, while at the other end BVB had a legitimate claim for a penalty waved away after a foul on Immobile in the Steaua box.

The second half was a more balanced but also a more scrappy affair as (especially) the Romanian side played much more physical, and also as BVB coach Jürgen Klopp made a number of changes to his side, with Alomerovic, Schmelzer and Kuba coming on at halftime and 16-year-old youngsters Dzenis Burnic and Felix Passlack around the hour mark.

Grosskreutz lands awkwardly

The second half saw fewer chances than the first one, and yet it saw a goal. After Burnic missed with a long-range effort on 78 minutes, Kuba was on hand to score after good work from Burnic six minutes later.

But just as in the first half, BVB were hit with another injury blow as Grosskreutz had to be taken off after landing awkwardly following a challenge with a Steaua player. The full extent to the injuries of both Grosskreutz and Kehl had yet to be determined.

The Prospects:

The Black and Yellows will play another two friendlies before resuming in the Bundesliga against Bayer Leverkusen on 31 January (kick-off: 1830 CET). On Wednesday 21 January, BVB travel to FC Utrecht in another friendly and on Saturday, 24 January (1530 CET), they take on Fortuna Düsseldorf in their last mid-season friendly.

BVB line-up:

Weidenfeller (46. Alomerovic) - Großkreutz (74. Harder), Subotic, Hummels (46. Schmelzer), Sokratis - Gündogan (61. Burnic), Kehl (44. Ginter) - Jojic, Reus (46. Blaszczykowski), Kampl (65. Passlack) - Immobile (74. Stankovic).
Goal: 1-0 Blaszczykowski (84., Burnic)
Attendance: approx. 5,000