Borussia Dortmund narrowly lost a spectacular duel with FC Barcelona 2:3 (0:0) in the Champions League.
After a goalless first half, Raphinha gave the guests the lead in the 53rd minute, and Serhou Guirassy equalized (60th). Guirassy again had an answer to Ferran Torres’ 1-2 (75′) (78′), but in the 85th minute Ferran Torres scored the winning goal for Barca.
“I don’t want to hear that we played a good game”said BVB coach Nuri Sahin afterwards. “We just have to stop making so many mistakes and lack of concentration and learn to win games like this. We definitely had the chance to do that in the second half.”
His colleague Hansi Flick admitted: “Dortmund has a very good team and did very well. But I’m proud of how my team solved this, especially in the first half we were very dominant. In the second half it was clear that Dortmund would come “But the changes worked very well for us.”
Dortmund leaves the game to Barca
BVB approached the game with a comparatively fearful attitude, retreating deep into their own half and largely abandoning the midfield without resistance. After half an hour, the distribution of ball possession was 35:65, and the guests should have been in the lead: Robert Lewandowki and Raphinha missed the first double chance in the 3rd minute, and Raphinha also narrowly failed with a low shot in the 14th minute.
Dortmund relied exclusively on counterattacks, but should have taken advantage of one of them in the 17th minute: Julien Duranville initiated one of the very rare attacks with a courageous move down the right side, passed precisely into the center to the completely free Marcel Sabitzer – but he made it Ball way over the crossbar.
Kobel parries against Yamal and Koundé
After that, the hosts withdrew again and let Barcelona take the initiative. Lamine Yamal forced Gregor Kobel into a brilliant save in the 20th minute, and Jules Koundé also found his match in the BVB keeper a quarter of an hour later.
It wasn’t until shortly before the break that Dortmund came out of the woodwork again and had two dangerous scenes within two minutes: First, Guirassy was denied from close range by Barca keeper Inaki Pena, but was marginally offside. Then the BVB striker appeared free in front of the goal again, but was slightly pulled on his jersey by Inigo Martínez – for referee François Letexier it was not enough for a penalty.
Raphinha scores after Nmecha error
In the second round, the tricky situations continued immediately. Five minutes before the restart, Guirassy scored after an assist from Giovanni Reyna and Jamie Gittens, but Gittens was again in the forbidden area during his assist.
After that, there was finally an end to the pseudo-celebrations and long offside checks – the game really picked up speed. In the 53rd minute, Dani Olmo won the ball from Felix Nmecha in midfield and fed Raphinha, who finished the counterattack ice-cold – Kobel looked surprisingly passive, as if he had hoped for an offside position again, but that wasn’t the case.
Guirassy equalizes with a penalty
But Dortmund came back quickly. After almost an hour, Pau Cubarsí simply pushed Guirassy over in the center forward position. Letexier wasn’t even looking, but apparently he got the right message on his headphones – Guirassy converted the penalty after a short discussion with Emre Can to make it 1-1.
But there was no calm, it continued back and forth, both teams now played with completely open sights. The guests took advantage of this again first, with substitute Ferran Torres taking the lead a quarter of an hour before the end from a Kobel deflection.
Guirassy again, Ferran Torres again
Dortmund showed excellent morale, pressed consistently again and was rewarded: Pascal Groß served Guirassy in the lead, who, with strong nerves, pushed into the empty goal against the Catalans, who were playing on offside, to make it 2-2.
But in the euphoria, the hosts made serious mistakes and suddenly gave up space on defense far too carelessly. Groß and Gittens squandered the ball in the build-up, Lamine Yamal fed Ferran Torres, who effortlessly slotted the ball in front of Kobel to make the final score 3-2 (85′). BVB then tried everything again, but this time they couldn’t find an answer.
Schlotterbeck appears to be seriously injured
The last minute was very bitter from Dortmund’s point of view: Nico Schlotterbeck had the equalizer deep in stoppage time, but his aim was too inaccurate and apparently badly injured his ankle when he landed: the central defender had to be taken off the pitch on a stretcher.