Dortmund undone in friendly by third-tier Fortuna
Borussia Dortmund will head off on a pre-season tour of Japan on the back of a disappointing 2-1 away defeat to third-tier German side Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday (AEST), its second straight friendly loss.
Dortmund coach Niko Kovac was forced to rely on his youth players to make up a side, but he also had some of his first team regulars on hand, including Serhou Guirassy, Jobe Bellingham and Fabio Silva.
Guirassy went close to opening the scoring early with a long-range free-kick inside the first 10 minutes that skimmed the side-netting.
Dortmund's first XI was made up mostly of teenagers, and it was one of them that eventually put the visitors ahead. Mathis Albert, 17, was the first to react quickest to a long clearance from goalkeeper Alex Meyer, and knocked the ball superbly past Fortuna goalkeeper Lasse Riess before coolly slotting home for a 20th-minute lead.
Dortmund held the lead to the half-time break, but the momentum shifted significantly in the second half.
Within five minutes of the restart, Fortuna was level after some sloppy defending in the box from Dortmund allowed Fabian Schleusener to tap it a leveller.
Dortmund had the chance to go ahead again not long after the hour mark, but Romeo Ritter's shot from distance was superbly clawed away by Riess as it headed for the top corner.
But it was the home side creating the better chances, and it went ahead in 79th minute through one of those. Lukas Eixler was sent down the right flank, and despite hints of offside, he delivered a pinpoint cross into the middle for Anas Slimani to volley home.
Samuele Inacio had a golden opportunity to grab a stoppage-time equaliser, but his header from close to the six-yard box was parried away by Reiss, who completed a solid display to earn his side the victory, a big boost heading into the new season, where it will be hoping for promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga having suffered relegation at the end of the 2025-2026 season.
Despite the defeat, Kovac felt his side was already improving in the early part of the pre-season, and without most of his bigger names to help out.
"You could already see today that we really stepped it up a notch in our second week of training," he said.
"Our legs were heavy. The first half was OK. In the second half, our resistance wasn’t quite what I had in mind. But we don’t want to read too much into it. Everyone gave it their all, but in the end, it wasn’t enough."
Kovac reserved special praise for Albert after his excellent goal had given Dortmund the lead.
"You can see what skills he has. He’s very fast and a strong dribbler," Kovac said of the 17-year-old.
"I have to say, he really gave it his all today. He scored the goal in his own style, with plenty of technique and speed. You can definitely see that we have some very talented lads, and we want to try to integrate one or two of them into the team, and he’s certainly one of them."
Dortmund will play two matches in Japan, the first against Cerezo Osaka on 30 July (AEST) before a trip to FC Tokyo on 2 August.
