BOCHUM, Germany — Borussia Dortmund stumbled to a 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum in their mini-Ruhr valley derby, with forward Donyell Malen’s second-half equaliser rescuing a point for last season’s Bundesliga runners-up.
Dortmund, who needed an 88th minute goal by Dutch striker Malen to beat Cologne 1-0 in their league opener last week, were sluggish and toothless in attack for long stretches of the match.
It is not the start coach Edin Terzic, club bosses and fans had been hoping for after Dortmund unexpectedly lost the Bundesliga title following a slip-up on the final matchday.
“It was absolutely not a good game from us,” said Dortmund captain Emre Can. “There was a lot missing and that is not how we want to play football. We want to play better, win and dominate.
“We were not surprised (by Bochum’s game) but maybe they were hungrier. I cannot explain it either. We know how we want to play but we don’t push this through the entire game.”
Dortmund did have a couple of early chances but it was the hosts who struck first with Kevin Stoeger’s unstoppable drive in the 13th minute taking goalkeeper Gregor Kobel by surprise.
Dortmund have now played a Bundesliga record 129 consecutive games without registering a goalless draw.
Bochum grew bolder and kept taking stabs at the Dortmund goal, with Philipp Hofmann almost adding a second with his glancing header in the 32nd minute bouncing off the bar.
Terzic’s team were running out of ideas for how to break through the hard-working Bochum defence when Malen took matters into his own hands once more and threaded a shot past two defenders and into the bottom corner for the equaliser.
They briefly upped the tempo as they went in search of a winner and hit the post with Felix Nmecha’s effort just past the hour.
Bochum, who bounced back from last week’s 5-0 loss at VfB Stuttgart, responded with Patrick Osterhage’s shot onto the post in the 87th, but in the end neither side could find a winner.
Fellow Champions League club Union Berlin made it two wins from two matches with a 4-1 demolition of Darmstadt 98 on the road, having scored eight goals in their two games.
Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen also have a perfect record following their 3-0 victory at Borussia Moenchengladbach, with new signing Victor Boniface netting twice.
