Borussia News

A crowd of 16,826 saw Borussia draw 0-0 against Sunderland in their final pre-season warm-up match at the BORUSSIA PARK on Saturday afternoon.

Borussia made a good start against the English Premier League outfit, combining neatly to launch several attacking moves on Simon Mignolet's goal. Yet it was a sliced clearance from Sunderland defender Michael Turner in the sixth minute that gave them their first geniune opportunity. Roman Neustädter was unable to make the most of the gift, however, screwing the ball well wide of the goal with mishit strike of his own. Borussia went much closer two minutes later when Mike Hanke passed diagonally to Lukas Rupp, who laid the ball off to Igor de Camargo, but his chip from 16 metres came down just over the bar.

Borussia remained the livelier of the two teams, advancing on the visitors' goal with several moves involving Rupp, Reus, De Camargo and Hanke, but they were able to fashion just one more chance worthy of note before half-time. In the 35th minute Reus struck a diagonal pass from the left wing to De Camargo, whose effort from eleven metres went just wide. Sunderland had just one decent chance in the first period, but what a chance it was. Connor Wickham turned his marker and shot just a whisker wide of the far post when promisingly placed.

No changes at the half

Borussia came out unchanged for the second half and were quickly on the attack again. Hanke delivered a cross into the middle for Reus to hit a first-time shot from the penalty spot, but the ball flew wide of the left-hand upright. Lucien Favre's men continued to apply the pressure and Reus sent in a free-kick that was safely collected by Sunderland keeper Mignolet. After that, though, the intensity of game dropped somewhat, with Sunderland offering little going forward and Borussia struggling to create any significant chances against the visitors' compact defence.

In the 67th minute Favre introduced fresh legs in Oscar Wendt, Patrick Herrmann and Mathew Leckie. Shortly after coming on Leckie was upended by Titus Bramble, who was duly sent off having already been booked. A man to the good, Borussia increased the tempo and a header from Havard Nordtveit flew just wide of the right-hand post. Favre brought on three more substitutes (Roel Brouwers, Thorben Marx and Raul Bobadilla) for the final quarter and within seconds of coming on Brouwers sent in a diving header, albeit wide of the target. Borussia's final goalscoring opportunity was a Nordtveidt free-kick that was deflected wide. Sunderland almost snatched an undeserved winner just before the end, but Ter Stegen, untested for much of the game, kept out Steed Malbranque's long-range effort.

Borussia: Ter Stegen – Jantschke, Stranzl, Dante (Brouwers 77'), Daems (Wendt 67') – Nordtveit, Neustädter (Marx 77') – Reus, Rupp (Herrmann 67') – De Camargo (Leckie 67'), Hanke (Bobadilla 77')

Sunderland: Minolet – Larsson (Ferdinand 63'), Richardson, Bramble, Turner (Bardsley 78') – Cattermole (Malbranque 63'), Elmohamady, Gardner (Colback 63'), Vaughan - Ji-Dong (Tounkara 84'), Wickham (Sessègnon 63')

Attendance: 16,825

Referee: Christian Bandurski

Yellow cards: Cattermole, Bramble

Red card: Bramble (71')