DORTMUND (dpa-AFX) - Borussia Dortmund suffered a nasty setback and recklessly disregarded sporting director Lars Ricken's title command. After a weak performance and a long period without striker Serhou Guirassy, BVB lost 0-1 (0-1) to Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup. Coach Kasper Hjulmand's team thus took revenge for their 2-1 defeat in the Bundesliga top match just three days earlier. Ibrahim Maza (34th minute) shot the Werkself into the quarterfinals.
Nine days earlier, at the general meeting, Ricken had called for a DFB Cup victory as a farewell gift for long-time club boss Hans-Joachim Watzke. Coach Niko Kovac's team apparently had no desire to do so. There is no other explanation for their strangely lifeless performance for long periods of the game. Initially without striker Guirassy, who sat on the bench for a long time after refusing to shake hands with the coach on Saturday, Dortmund's attacking play seemed awkward and unlucky.
New signing Fábio Silva started in place of Guirassy this time, but failed to take his chance. Guirassy, who has been looking like a foreign body in BVB's play for weeks, walked past Kovac without saying a word after another weak performance and his early substitution in Leverkusen, throwing away his gloves.
Kovac: Guirassy's break not due to refusal to shake hands
"Many will speculate, but I want to take the wind out of their sails right away," Kovac said before the game on Sky about the controversial personnel decision. "This has nothing to do with what happened before; he didn't play from the start in the cup game in Frankfurt either. This has nothing to do with the last game. We want to bring in some freshness."
In fact, the 81,365 spectators saw mainly sluggishness and misplaced passes galore. As in Saturday's Bundesliga match, the first half was boring and of a modest standard. The only well-played attack ended in the opening goal for the visitors. Rising star Maza skillfully finished off a Leverkusen combination from the pressure in his own penalty area. Only then did Dortmund create chances. Karim Adeyemi alone missed two opportunities (40th and 42nd).
Hardly any pressure from Dortmund after the break
Despite trailing, BVB came out of the dressing room surprisingly subdued. Lack of speed, no ideas and coordination problems characterized Dortmund's game against an equally uninspiring Leverkusen side, who looked much stronger individually on Tuesday. A great move by Alejandro Grimaldo ended in what appeared to be a second goal by Martin Terrier (60'). However, after reviewing the video footage, the goal was disallowed for offside.
Kovac responded to his team's lackluster performance with a triple substitution. Guirassy, Julian Brandt, and Maximilian Beier came on for the unfortunate Silva, Chukwuemeka, and Julian Ryerson. Guirassy was then hardly seen./lap/DP/zb
