Borussia Dortmund captain Nico Schlotterbeck believed a lack of ‘guts’ and ‘courage’ were key in their loss to Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Dortmund’s unbeaten run at the start of the season was cut short by a 2–1 defeat to their rivals at the Allianz Arena, leaving them fourth in the Bundesliga and seven points behind Bayern.
Nico Kovac’s side registered just one shot on target in the match, their only goal coming from Julian Brandt in the 84th minute, as they gave away seven attempts in the defeat.
Schlotterbeck believes that Dortmund’s players knew what they had to do to win in Munich, but they failed to execute their plan.
“I said to the boys before the match: if you want to survive in Munich you have to play with courage, with forward drive and with guts, and we completely lacked that in the first half,” he said.
“We were sloppy in our play and didn’t win any tackles. However, the second half is encouraging because I think we were even better than Bayern.”
“Nevertheless, during the ninety minutes and especially in the first half it was generally not enough and then you are simply not going to win in Munich.”
Defeat on the road. pic.twitter.com/QRIUuWbezg
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) October 18, 2025
Dortmund head coach Nico Kovac was gentler about his assessment of the defeat, largely thanks to their superior second half.
“Of course we are disappointed: with the result and especially with the first half. The second half was considerably better,” said Kovac.
“I think the spectators saw a good Klassiker. It’s a shame we didn’t get the equalizer, but we were just not good enough in the first half.”
“We needed a few more minutes in the second half, then we might have done it.”
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