By Carsten Lappe, dpa
Dortmund, Germany (dpa) – Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre watched his young side dismantle Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday but immediately played down their chances of challenging Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title.
“We don’t talk about Bayern,” said Favre after the 3-0 home win. “That brings nothing. That’s the best team in the world, they have so much quality everywhere.
“If someone doesn’t see that, they have a problem. Then they should do another job.”
Sporting director Michael Zorc was also reluctant to be drawn on whether Dortmund could halt Bayern’s bid for a ninth successive domestic crown.
“We have Bayern in the Bundesliga, they are the absolute top favourites for the title,” he told broadcaster ZDF. “Those of us responsible for sporting matters must evaluate that realistically.”
Immediately after the victory he had told Sky that Bayern were a “role model” and also admitted the final score against Gladbach flattered his team somewhat.
“The result was really too high because Gladbach played very well,” Zorc said.
The goals, through 17-year-old Giovanni Reyna in the 35th minute and 20-year-old Erling Haaland (54 and 77) came, said Favre, “at exactly the right moment” in what was actually a relatively balanced game.
Before falling behind Gladbach had pushed for the opening goal but an early second half penalty, converted by Haaland after video review, left them with a mountain to climb.
And their hopes were effectively ended by the referee not checking Mats Hummels’ challenge on Marcus Thuram when a second look could have provided a penalty.
“You also have to at least look at that on Thuram,” said Gladbach’s Christoph Kramer.
As the guests pushed forward Dortmund’s third was created on the counter for Haaland from Jadon Sancho, another 20-year-old set to be retained despite previous transfer rumours.
“We were really unlucky to lose,” said Gladbach boss Marco Rose. “The statistics show that it was a really even match – there weren’t a lot of chances at either end, yet the result looks pretty convincing.
“At the end of the day, Dortmund were just more effective than us in the penalty area.”
Reyna combined with English 17-year-old Jude Bellingham for his opener which Dortmund said was the youngest assist and scorer duo since records began.
“We have a lot of young players, it’s really enjoyable,” the American said. “We all have so much energy, but we need to keep working, we need to improve even more.”
Zorc said that both are “extremely advanced” for their age, something few would deny. But few would expect 17-year-olds to be capable of dislodging treble winning Bayern from the top of the pile either.
There were nearly 10,000 fans in the stadium amid the coronavirus pandemic who will hope for the unexpected and they were backed in their optimism by Hummels.
“The mixture is better this season than last, also when it comes to training and professionalism,” he said.
Marco Reus and Julian Brandt were on the bench to show the depth available to Favre in the months to come.
“We already have a pile of good footballers,” Hummels said. “If we can get that into a sensible structure we’re a top team.”
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