Lucien Favre sacked by Borussia Dortmund after heavy Stuttgart loss
Borussia Dortmund have sacked their manager Lucien Favre following Saturday’s 5-1 loss at home to promoted VfB Stuttgart.
“We are all grateful to Lucien Favre for his excellent work over the past two-and-a-half years, in which he and his team won two runner-up championships. As a professional and as a person, Lucien Favre is beyond any doubt,” Dortmund’s chairman, HansJoachim Watzke, said in a statement.
Nicknamed “the brain” for his tactical nous, Favre previously worked at Hertha Berlin and Borussia Mönchenglabdach in the Bundesliga. He enjoyed an excellent first half of the 2018-19 season, with Dortmund leading the title race before imploding after the winter break to see the league title again go to Bayern Munich.
Dortmund also failed to challenge Bayern last season. Favre’s three-year contract was due to expire at the end of the season. The side had also failed to win any of their last three league games, dropping to fifth in the league. They have, however, advanced to the Champions League round of 16.
The assistant coach Edin Terzic, a youth coach who has also worked as an assistant at West Ham and Besiktas in Turkey, took charge of the Sunday afternoon training session and will remain in charge until the end of the season, the club said.
“It is very difficult to take this step,” said Dortmund’s sports director Michael Zorc. “But we believe because of the negative developments lately that there is a need to act.”
In Sunday’s games, Bayer Leverkusen beat Hoffenheim 4-1 to go top of the Bundesliga for the first time in six years. Leon Bailey scored twice as the home side won comfortably despite missing a number of players due to injury and Covid-19.
The Jamaican winger Bailey first struck after four minutes, thundering in a shot from outside the box past the goalkeeper Oliver Baumann. The 23-year-old then intercepted an inexplicable long-range back-pass from Andrej Kramaric to double Leverkusen’s lead.
Hoffenheim cut the deficit five minutes after half-time, as Christoph Baumgartner was left unmarked to charge forward and curl in a shot. Leverkusen restored their two-goal lead through the 17-year-old winger Florian Wirtz’s solo effort five minutes later, before Hoffenheim’s Florian Grillitsch was sent off after picking up two yellow cards.
Lucas Alario’s injury-time penalty sealed top spot for Peter Bosz’s side, who are unbeaten in 11 league games. Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig are both a point behind, with Wolfsburg three points further back in fourth.
At the other end of the table, Schalke are still bottom and without a win after conceding a last-gasp equaliser at Augsburg. Nassim Boujellab put the visiting side 2-1 up on the hour, but Marco Richter struck in the 92nd minute to deny them victory.