Borussia Dortmund confirm fine for Karim Adeyemi following sideline outburst, Niko Kovac speaks on need to maintain discipline
Karim Adeyemi’s unprofessional behavior during Friday night’s Bundesliga match against Borussia Mönchengladbach will not go unpunished. Adeyemi reacted angrily when he was replaced by Borussia Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac in the 60th minute of the tense 2-0 home win. Angry at being sent off, Adeyemi attempted to head to the locker room, but was stopped by BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl and sent back to the bench.
“I told him: he doesn’t go to the locker room, he sits there,» Kehl explained to Sky Germany after the match. »The substitution was completely justified. Karim didn’t play well. He will be punished for this. I don’t want to see this reaction and neither the coach nor anyone else. It’s not right, and Karim knows it too.
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“We have discussed this issue intensively with the team in recent weeks,” Kehl continued. “If a player is not happy, he can express it in the locker room or during training the next day.“
“You have to be reasonable,” Kovac added while speaking to Saturday1. “I could have made the substitution at half-time, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to give him another chance.”
Why are Dortmund cracking down on Adeyemi?
It may seem like the club are being rather harsh on the 23-year-old, but Adeyemi was previously booked for throwing a water bottle during another tight and stressful 1-0 home win over 1. FC Köln on Matchday 8 in October. There was also the matter of Adeyemi’s previously concealed conviction on illegal weapons charges, for which there were ultimately no consequences from the club.
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Dortmund are already under pressure to keep their players in line after defender Nico Schlotterbeck exploded on the bench last week following a disappointing Champions League draw. Kovac must be seen as having the support of the BVB management, especially after the failure of more “friendly for gamers» predecessors such as Nuri Sahin and Edin Terzic.
Will we talk about Kovac’s work during winter break?
Of course. This is always the case in Dortmund, regardless of who coaches the team. Two years ago, there were reports of a “internal mutiny” against Terzic persisted until Bundesliga play finally resumed in January 2024. Sahin somehow escaped dismissal over the last winter break before a run of four consecutive defeats to start 2025 ultimately cost him his job.
We can fully expect more from Dortmund”crisis summits“During the holidays. The Bundesliga club regularly criticized for having too many bosses and too many front office administrators with similar job titles lost some weight last year by getting rid of Sven Mislintat, but Acki Watzke will probably call on his two sporting directors Kehl and Lars Ricken to discuss Kovac in the coming weeks.
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Kovac made his case with a confident tone in the post-match press conference.
What were Kovac’s last words at the press conference?
“The reason for the replacement was very clearly his performance,Kovac noted with a confident smile.I think we were all there in the stadium and, I will say it very clearly, he was not good. I told him that at halftime and I brought Maxi [Beier] in the 60th minute. He did a better job. Sebastian [Kehl] I can tell you the rest.
When a reporter asked a follow-up question about Kovac’s reputation as “disciplinary monster“, Kovac gestured to his counterpart sitting across from him at the press conference. Kovac then referred to Kehl’s comments once again.
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“I think that [Gladbach head coach] Eugene [Polanski] also cares about discipline,“Kovac replied.”I think every head coach in the Bundesliga requires discipline. I demand nothing less than what my parents asked of me from the moment I was old enough to go to kindergarten.
“I’m just asking for the basics,” Kovac concluded. “[What he did] was not good. Sebastian [Kehl] I can tell you the rest.“
GGFN | Pierre Weis
