Borussia Dortmund's Defence Weathers the Storm in Controversial Leverkusen Win

Borussia Dortmund's 1-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen on Matchday 22 of the 2015/16 Bundesliga season should not go down in the history books. Quite frankly, the game was terrible.

It was a game that commentators try to sugarcoat by calling it an "intense affair," but, in reality, it was a festival of inaccurate long balls, aerial duels and fouls.

Per Squawka, Leverkusen completed only 71 per cent of their passes, with Dortmund edging them by only two percentage points.  

The matchup of third versus second in the Bundesliga was more a war of attrition than a fine football game, as the expected-goals chart from football analytics Twitter account 11tegen11 below shows:

The Black and Yellows, however, unlike Leverkusen, had an excuse. Head coach Thomas Tuchel took the opportunity to rest a number of players for the return leg of the UEFA Europa League round-of-32 tie with FC Porto on Thursday.

Without Julian Weigl, Nuri Sahin, Ilkay Gundogan and Shinji Kagawa, Dortmund's midfield consisted of Sven Bender, who returned from an injury absence to make his first appearance of 2016, Matthias Ginter and Moritz Leitner.

The latter could've provided a spark with his technical abilities, but the ball flew over his head with such regularity that he hardly made an impact. WhoScored.com had him down for just 38 touches, the second-least figure from all BVB players who were on the pitch for 90 minutes.

As has been the case a number of times in the second half of the season, Dortmund's defence outplayed their prolific attack. Mats Hummels continued his impressive stretch of form and his partner in central defence, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, played equally well—neither putting a foot wrong in difficult matchups with the physical Stefan Kiessling and the sneaky Javier Hernandez.

Dortmund also got strong play from their full-backs, especially Erik Durm, whom WhoScored rated as the best player on the pitch.

He also provided the assist to the only goal of the afternoon, which started the controversy that will have the game go down in Bundesliga folklore after all.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

This video from Streamable only shows the class through ball from Marco Reus, who came on at half-time, to Durm and Aubameyang's easy finish, but the bone of contention came earlier in the sequence.

After a foul from Kiessling on Bender, referee Felix Zwayer stopped play, despite Dortmund keeping possession in a potentially interesting counter-attacking situation.

Ginter stopped the ball and immediately played the free-kick, exactly 5.8 metres (6.3 yards) away from the position of the foul, as German broadcaster Sky pointed out after the game.

Leverkusen head coach Roger Schmidt was so enraged about this occurrence, which happens countless times during each and every game, that Zwayer sent him to the stands. Only he wouldn't go. 

After three minutes of delay, in which Zwayer sent team captain Kiessling to the sideline to enforce his ruling—as referees are instructed in Germany—the 34-year-old official suspended the match. Play wouldn't resume until Schmidt left the technical area.

Herbert Fandel, the head of the refereeing commission of the German FA, told DFB.de (link in German) after the game that Zwayer applied the rules correctly, adding that it is unacceptable that a coach tries to enforce a personal explanation with his refusal to leave after a dismissal.

Once play resumed, Leverkusen came out with all guns blazing. Tuchel correctly pointed out after the game, per the club's official website, that "the interruption...benefitted Leverkusen. They were energised by a perceived injustice in an emotionally charged stadium."

Dortmund were lucky twice in those 23 minutes after the unplanned break: First, a Chicharito header struck Sokratis' outstretched arm, which should've led to a penalty, as Zwayer admitted after the game to German broadcaster Sky. The Mexican then wasted a prime opportunity in the second minute of stoppage time.

Still, Dortmund's defence rose to the occasion. Considering the circumstances, with Bayer desperate to score and the Black and Yellows playing with a motley crew of a lineup, it was an impressive display. 

They had to work hard for their clean sheet, but they got it—and it was a special one, as BT Sport's Archie Rhind-Tutt pointed out:

The Black and Yellows have now kept a clean sheet in five of their last seven games across competitions in 2016, conceding only in impressive 3-1 away wins at Borussia Monchengladbach in the league and VfB Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal.

That bodes well for Thursday, and their chances in the cups in general. Tuchel basically admitted that the focus now lies on success in those with his lineup selection against Leverkusen.

And Dortmund still beat one of the in-form teams of the Bundesliga, again showing the big gap between them and 16 other teams in the division—controversy notwithstanding.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.