Match Report
BVB play out 1-1 draw with Erzgebirge Aue
The second friendly following the 7-1 victory against the DEW21 Dream Team last Friday saw BVB pay a visit to third-tier Erzgebirge Aue. Felix Nmecha and Soumaila Coulibaly were absent from the action due to their individual programmes, as were the internationals who will return from their holiday at the end of July.
The spectators at the Erzgebirgsstadion, among them 2,000 BVB fans, saw a quiet start. The Black & Yellows failed to find their team-mates with the final ball several times. As a result the first opportunity of the match fell to the hosts, with goalkeeper Alex Meyer turning a hard long-range effort from Omar Sijaric over the bar (13). Julian Brandt struck the wall with a free-kick three minutes later, but the Black & Yellows fared better with a set-pieces shortly afterwards: Elias Benkara headed a corner-kick from Brandt into the net to make it 1-0 (20). Karim Adeyemi was subsequently in the thick of the action twice: he first sprinted into his own penalty area at great speed in order to stop Linus Rosenlöcher (31). Then, two minutes later, Brandt broke through the middle at pace and fed the wing forward, who fired the ball wide of the mark. Kjell Wätjen's shot in the 37th minute was too high and Julian Ryerson was denied by Martin Männel in the Aue goal shortly before the interval, meaning the lead remained 1-0 heading into half-time.
Coach Nuri Sahin made nine changes to his team after the break, with only Meyer and Tyler Meiser returning to the pitch. The only first-team player aside from Meyer on the field was Haller, with Sahin having otherwise brought on U23 and U19 players. And Meyer was in the thick of the action shortly after the restart, comfortably keeping out a shot from Marvin Stefaniak. BVB subsequently had several opportunities to score but Paris Brunner headed wide of the mark (51), Franz Roggow fired over while leaning backwards (55), Julian Hettwer allowed the ball to slip over his foot (62), Brunner's shot from the edge of the box was too high (65) and Almugera Kabar was denied by Männel (67). The game grew increasingly subdued. Sean Seitz had two more opportunities for Aue: Meyer was on hand to thwart a central shot in the 74th minute. Eight minutes later, the attacking player fired a cross from the left flank into the Dortmund net to round off the scoring at 1-1.
The BVB first team will start their Asia Tour on Friday, with friendlies against BG Pathum United (Thailand) and Cerezo Osaka (Japan).
BVB first half: Meyer – Ryerson, Süle, Benkara, Rothe – Meiser, Wätjen – Adeyemi, Brandt, Bynoe-Gittens – Moukoko
BVB second half: Meyer – Jessen, Lelle, Lührs, Kabar – Meiser, Azhil – Hettwer, Roggow, Brunner – Haller
Goals: 0-1 Benkara (20), 1-1 (Seitz, 82)
