“Just not good enough”
©IMAGO
Too harmless at the front, overwhelmed at the back: Borussia Dortmund suffered their first defeat of this Champions League season at Manchester City. Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, celebrated their first win against Benfica in Lisbon.
Phil Foden (22nd/57th minute), Erling Haaland (29th) and substitute Rayan Cherki (90th + 1) scored the goals for Man City. Waldemar Anton (72nd) scored Dortmund’s only goal to make it 1:3. After the 1:2 against FC Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, BVB lost for only the second time this season. However, with seven points at the halfway point of the league phase of the premier class, the Revierclub is still on target and has a good chance of at least reaching the playoffs for the round of 16.
BVB “just not good enough”
“At times it was just too bad,” said goalkeeper Gregor Kobel on “DAZN”. National player Nico Schlotterbeck also couldn’t be satisfied with the good opening quarter of an hour and a strong phase in the second half: “Nevertheless, you have to say that we deserved to lose because we simply weren’t good enough.”
At BVB, Nico Schlotterbeck was back in the starting line-up in Augsburg after being out due to a cold. He and his defense colleagues were quickly challenged. After Dortmund’s decent opening minutes, City played big.
Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel fended off Foden’s first attempt from a distance. When the 25-year-old had his next chance, he was powerless. Foden hit the ball well into the corner from around 20 meters.
Haaland quickly follows up and cheers discreetly
The lead gave the hosts an additional boost. Manchester put a lot of pressure on, the BVB defense could hardly keep up. The gaps between the defensive midfield and the defensive chain were sometimes far too large. In addition, BVB couldn’t get the wings closed. Savinho repeatedly caused unrest, especially on Dortmund’s left side of the defense.
First, Kobel saved Borussia from 0-2 with a strong reflex against Nico O’Reilly. Then Haaland let the City fans celebrate again. The Norwegian attacking giant himself refrained from excessive celebration gestures against his former club.
It took until the 39th minute before Dortmund became dangerous for the first time. However, Karim Adeyemi was denied by City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Dortmund’s chance remained one of a few exceptions for a long time.
Foden makes the preliminary decision with his second goal
Even after the break, the Skyblues picked up the pace. Less than a minute had been played before Savinho tested Kobel again. At the latest when Foden once again showed his class and precise shooting technique with his second goal of the evening, the game was decided. The offensive man hit the corner again, this time from the edge of the penalty area.
Despite being heavily inferior in terms of play at times, BVB did not give up. The will and commitment were right. The moved-up central defender Anton even scored a Dortmund goal with the 1:3 after a cross from Julian Ryerson. Despite further opportunities in the final phase, it wasn’t enough to achieve more than this consolation goal. Instead, Cherki even scored the hosts’ fourth goal.
Thanks to Schick: Bayer gets their first Champions League victory
Bayer Leverkusen has rehabilitated itself from the 0-3 setback at FC Bayern and won its first win of this Champions League season. Thanks to Patrik Schick (65th minute), the Werkself beat Portugal’s record champions Benfica 1-0 (0-0) and remain in the race for the knockout phase.
The substitute striker headed the winning goal against José Mourinho’s team shortly after coming on. The important success was flattering, however, as the hosts, who were still pointless, missed numerous chances.
Leverkusen lacked offensive power for a long time, although Alejandro Grimaldo was back in the starting line-up after the 3-0 defeat at Bayern. When in possession of the ball, the former Benfica professional moved into the center, as he did recently, and boosted the attacks from there. The Werkself game didn’t really go well at first, even with Grimaldo. On the contrary: the guests were lucky not to fall behind in the first half.
Advantages for Benfica
The Portuguese didn’t play an exciting game either. But they finished their attacks better. That almost made it 1-0 in the 11th minute, but after a quick counterattack, former Bundesliga professional Dodi Lukébakio lobbed the ball onto the crossbar. After a good half hour, a header from world champion Nicolas Otamendi (33′) hit the aluminum post. Before the break, Lukebakio (44th) and Otamendi (43rd) missed again.
With the score 0-0 at half-time, Bayer was well served because the defense repeatedly allowed itself to be taken by surprise. The Werkself’s best opportunity went to the quick Ernest Poku (35′), who shot miserably wide in front of the Benfica goal. The guests couldn’t be denied the effort, but there was a lack of final consequence. Coach Kasper Hjulmand’s team initially became dangerous almost exclusively because of the 21-year-old Poku and his speed.
Chic change brings the turning point
The longer the game lasted, the more Benfica pushed for the lead in front of their home crowd. Immediately after the break, attacker Vangelis Pavlidis (47th/51st) had chances to take the lead, but narrowly failed on both occasions. Hjulmand reacted and, among other things, brought some style – and that paid off.
After a fine pass from Grimaldo, Benfica keeper Anatolij Trubin initially blocked the Czech’s shot. But because Samuel Dahl headed the rebound into the center, Schick thanked him and also scored the lead with his head.
Shortly afterwards, it began to rain again on a cool autumn day in Portugal’s capital, and the game also adapted more and more to the weather. Unsurprisingly, Bayer limited itself to defending the opening goal. Specialist Grimaldo took a free kick from a central position to the right of the post in stoppage time.