Karim Adeyemi crowned a perfect week for him with another brace and shot Borussia Dortmund to the top of the Bundesliga table, at least for one night. Thanks in particular to two goals and an assist from the 22-year-old, BVB demystified the previous league leader 1. FC Heidenheim with a 4:2 (3:1) win and overtook the Swabians, who had previously been undefeated in five competitive matches this season.
“I was actually hoping to score a third goal,” Adeyemi said with a smile on DAZN. “But I’m very happy with the two goals and even happier with the win.”
Donyell Malen (12th minute), Adeyemi (17th/41st) and Emre Can (90th+3/handball penalty) also scored the first FCH goals in this Bundesliga season. The goals from Marvin Pieringer (39th) and Maximilian Breunig from a penalty (74th) were not enough for the guests, who only really put BVB under pressure in the final phase.
“We lost, which annoys us. But I think we sold ourselves dearly after the first 25 minutes, which were not good,” said Heidenheim coach Frank Schmidt.
The Champions League finalists from the Ruhr region warmed up for their first Champions League appearance of the season on Wednesday at Club Brugge. This was particularly true for Adeyemi, who had already scored five goals in the two U21 international matches in the past few days and overshadowed the season debut of 18 million euro signing Serhou Guirassy on Friday.
“I gained a lot of confidence in the U21s and that helped me a lot,” said Adeyemi. “The goals we conceded were unnecessary, but in the end we deserved to win.”
Outstanding Adeyemi: Seven goals in seven days
The former Stuttgart player was in the starting eleven straight away after recovering from knee problems and shone in Dortmund’s third goal when he cleverly passed the ball through to Adeyemi, who was lurking behind him.
In view of Dortmund’s offensive spectacle, coach Nuri Sahin’s risky tactics paid off. As his Heidenheim colleague Frank Schmidt had expected, Dortmund stood extremely high and left only central defenders Niklas Süle and Waldemar Anton as backup in the build-up in the absence of the yellow-red suspended Nico Schlotterbeck.
Highly praised Heidenheimer largely harmless
The home team applied pressure early on and took the lead through Malen. For Heidenheim, it was the first goal they had conceded this season. And it didn’t stay that way, as the previously highly praised guests were unable to find a way to counter Dortmund’s offensive power.
Heidenheim did not manage to win the ball early on, which would have put BVB in trouble, although the hosts, especially in the person of Felix Nmecha, who was allowed to play from the start, repeatedly invited the opponent to switch positions through sloppy passes or weak tackling.
These remained unused at first. Instead, Dortmund increased their lead five minutes after taking the lead: Julian Brandt, who was playing as BVB captain for the first time, skilfully passed to Adeyemi, who scored with the confidence of previous U21 games.
Sahin took high risks with high-standing wingers
Even after the two-goal lead, BVB coach Sahin stuck with the extremely high-positioned full-backs Julian Ryerson and Ramy Bensebaini. The Algerian played from the start for Dortmund for the first time this calendar year and put in a decent performance.
The hosts now took a more leisurely approach to the attack or were too imprecise, and Heidenheim had more periods of possession. After about half an hour, they were successful with high balls.
First, Pieringer headed the ball into the arms of Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel while standing free (36th minute), but did much better three minutes later with a header after a great cross from Omar Traoré and gave Dortmund their first goal of the season.
But the guests continued to show major defensive problems and invited BVB to score more goals. Just two minutes after taking the lead, Adeyemi again restored the old lead.
At half-time, Heidenheim coach Schmidt corrected his misguided decision to use the same starting line-up from the previous competitive match for the first time this season. But bringing in Sirlord Conteh and making three other substitutions after just under 70 minutes had little effect.
Dortmund then countered in their own stadium. After about an hour, Adeyemi missed a great chance to score his third goal of the evening. This came back to haunt him: substitute Breunig scored from the penalty spot after a Süle foul. Shortly before the end, BVB made it clear thanks to a handball penalty converted by substitute Can.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240913-930-232026/2
This is a message directly from the dpa news channel.
