Borussia Dortmund suffered their first defeat in the Champions League at Manchester City – also because goal machine Erling Haaland scored once again.
Goal machine Erling Haaland hugged Gregor Kobel, chatted briefly with the Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper and then hugged other old acquaintances in black and yellow.
While Borussia Dortmund suffered their first defeat in the Champions League, Haaland was in a good mood – because he did it again. The striker scored again against his former club and inflicted another bitter defeat on BVB at Manchester City.
With his 18th goal of the season, exceptional striker Haaland sealed BVB’s 1:4 (0:2) defeat at the Etihad Stadium – three years ago, Haaland had spoiled Borussia’s trip to Manchester with a spectacular kung fu goal (1:2).
“At times it just wasn’t good enough”
This time the Norwegian’s goal was much more ordinary: after a pass from Jeremy Doku, the Norwegian hit the ball halfway into the net to make it 2-0 (29′).
Phil Foden had previously scored (22nd) when the overwhelmed Dortmund defense had paid too much attention to their former “goal machine”. The England international followed up after the break (57th) – and is now the only City player besides Haaland to have scored more than one goal in the Premier League and Champions League combined. Waldemar Anton (72nd) only managed to score the next goal, Rayan Cherki (90th + 1) added the final score.
The game felt “not good,” Kobel said afterwards on “DAZN”: “But I think four goals in the end are too many. It’s a shame. But at times it just wasn’t good enough.”
The first defeat after seven points from the first three games knocked BVB out of the first eight places in the league phase, which entitles them to advance directly to the round of 16. The first opponent in the highest category showed the Bundesliga third-place team the limits.
After the unsightly 1-0 win at FC Augsburg last Friday, Niko Kovac started the rotation again: the BVB coach made five changes to the starting line-up, with the regular players in particular returning to the team.
Central defender Nico Schlotterbeck was also available again after recovering from a cold – and faced the big challenge of stopping Haaland, who wore the captain’s armband for Bernardo Silva at City. “He’s amazing, difficult to defend, especially alone,” said Kovac before kick-off on “DAZN,” “We have to do that as a group.” It didn’t always work.
BVB defense wobbles worryingly
After the stadium management had set off fireworks with a laser show before kick-off, Dortmund only dominated the action in the initial phase with high pressing and lots of ball wins. However, Foden scored the first shot on goal on the other side (10th). It was mainly through the England international that City found their possession football as the playing time increased.
When the Dortmund defense was primarily focused on Haaland, Foden put the hosts in the lead with his first Champions League goal of the season, surprisingly unchallenged. A little later, BVB keeper Gregor Kobel prevented Nico O’Reilly from making it 0-2 (28′), but Haaland made up for it shortly afterwards. Dortmund’s defense was now shaky and Kobel made a desperate save against Matheus Nunes (33′).
The guests’ first chance to score through Karim Adeyemi was delayed until shortly before half-time (39′). Shortly after the restart, Felix Nmecha narrowly missed the goal with a direct shot (47th). When Foden made it 3-0, Dortmund complained about a foul by Savinho on Ramy Bensebaini.
After the 3-0 win, City then switched to administration mode. In addition to the consolation goal, there was other good news for BVB – Emre Can made his season debut after more than five months out due to injury.