Schwaben keep winning under Markus Babbel

The stunning turnaround of die Schwaben season under Markus Babbel continued with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund. Since taking over for VfB, the Babbel-led team have yet to lose in the Bundesliga and are now only four points removed from first place.

Tinkering with the starting eleven, Markus Babbel called on Christian Träsch, Roberto Hilbert and Thomas Hitzlsperger for Ludovic Magnin, Timo Gebhart and Martin Lanig. The much talked about BVB defending took at back seat early as Élson's free kick nestled into the net ten minutes after the opening whistle. Owning the run of the match, Mario Gómez nearly increased the lead shortly thereafter as he headed a corner off the post. However for the balance of the half the BVB attack was non-existent and rarely threatened Jens.

After the restart Ricardo Osorio came agonizingly close to doubling the margin but at the fifty-second minute Tamás Hajnal sent the ball to Nelson Valdez and the Paraguayan international brought the match level. However victory was in store for VfB as ten minutes later Roberto Hilberto picked out Mario Gómez and the German international powered the ball in to bring the match to a 2-1 score. Dortmund continued to press but it was not to be and the VfB revival continued with another three points.

Following the match Markus Babbel said:

"Looking at the attempts on goal, it was a deserved win for my team. The flow of play, on the other hand, was quite evenly balanced. I do have to compliment my team though, the really battled hard and gave all they had to prevent an equaliser. The only thing I could really criticise is that we didn't complete the chances we created on the break. The win was hard work for us."