Shock defeat for BVB leaves boss Favre baffled – and Barca chuckling…

At no point was this result in the script for Borussia Dortmund head coach Lucien Favre. The BVB gaffer could have at no point envisaged his star-studded team going to Union Berlin and somehow allowing the hosts to claim their first Bundesliga triumph, a 3-1 win, since promotion. But, forget the script — because that is exactly what happened.

On paper, this should have been nothing other than a run-of-the-mill, routine win for Favre’s side and a victory would have continued their 100 per cent start to the season given that they have secured triumphs over Augbsurg and Cologne. But the hosts were having none of it and were happy to rip up the script — and doing so announced they were a force with which to reckoned.

The watching scouts from Barcelona would have been astonished when they came to their conclusions at the end of the game. The Nou Camp spies were in town to run the rule over Favre’s men given that they are set play them in the Champions’ League group stages. The conclusion, undoubtedly: nothing to worry about here, boss.

There was no clue as the opening skirmishes unfolded that this would be an upset, with the visitors taking control of passages of the game and the hosts happy to let them do so. And so it was that BVB were startled on 22 minutes when Urs Fischer’s side took the lead as quick-witted Marius Bulter cashed in on a swiftly taken corner kick to rifle the ball home for 1-0.

Alas, the lead lasted just three minutes with BVB offering an indication that they were no pushovers — for the time being anyway. It was Spanish attacker Paco Alcacer who got on the end of an inviting cross from Jadon Sancho to slot home form 1-1.

But the home side gained in confidence and not too long after the break it was Butler again who gave Union Berlin a 2-1 lead when he was quick to reach the ball as keeper Roman Burki parried the ball into his path from Sebastian Andersson’s strike.

Yet Andersson would not be denied and he managed to seal the deal to make it 3-1 to the delight of the Union Berlin faithful. The defeat leaves BVB in fifth place while the Bundesliga new boys sit in 11th.

Favre, in his post-match comments, was quick to install the feeling that patience would be the way forward for his team and he said:

“We have to keep our patience and not play hastily with the score at 1-1 — we have to defend very well. This is very important. Instead, we have lost our patience and conceded an unnecessary goal. Even then, we should have kept patient. There was still time to make it 2-2 and maybe win the game as well. Our second half was not good.”