Walls without guts – Borussia Dortmund hesitantly and timidly missed a bonus point in Paris at the start of an ultra-difficult Champions League mission.
In the concrete block of Prinzenpark, a controversial penalty goal by PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe (49th) in the 0:2 (0:0) destroyed BVB’s extremely defensive five-man chain approach. Even after the second goal conceded by Achraf Hakimi (58th), Dortmund had little to offer in attack.
Paris St. Germain, on the other hand, let its 350 million euro storm off the chain. However, Mbappe, former Dortmund player Ousmane Dembele and Randal Kolo Muani rarely got through despite their superiority: Dortmund intervened energetically with only 20 percent possession of the ball in the first half or were lucky, as was the case with Vitinha’s shot at the inside post (20th). Before the penalty, the ball jumped to Niklas Süle’s hand in the penalty area. Ex-BVB professional Hakimi then skilfully put Mats Hummels on his backside in the most beautiful attack of the game.
“We ran after the ball a lot today. We defended well in the first half, but lost the ball too quickly,” said Emre Can on “Prime Video”. The BVB captain said about the controversial penalty: “It falls on his hand and he has to support himself. I told the referee several times that he should look at it. Unfortunately he didn’t do that.”
Terzic puts BVB striker on the bench
A few hours before kick-off, BVB posted a photo montage on Twitter/X – Sebastien Haller could be seen playing an animated chess game with Mbappe in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Like Niclas Füllkrug, who made his Champions League debut after an hour, Haller initially sat on the bench. Coach Edin Terzic relied on his five-man chain, but still called for a “courageous” appearance in the Prime interview and sent out his counter-attack specialists instead of the classic nine: Donyell Malen and Karim Adeyemi.
Mbappe immediately gave a foretaste of what Dortmund and especially Marius Wolf would expect on the right side of defense: After a 50-meter ball from former Bayern professional Lucas Hernandez, he danced into the penalty area (2nd). Hernandez had the first good chance himself (4th).
However, BVB did not initially come under the constant pressure they feared; for example, they had a series of three corners early on and had a decent shot opportunity through the paint. Marcel Sabitzer’s substitution due to groin problems (14′) didn’t fit into the plan at all. Felix Nmecha took over in central midfield, but never found his way into the game. Before BVB had properly sorted themselves out, Vitinha flicked the ball onto the post.
Furthermore, the Dortmund team did everything they could to receive the opponent very compactly so as not to have to go into deep running duels. Mbappe castled through all offensive positions, but often got stuck. After half an hour, probably the best striker in the world shook his head angrily.
BVB without any penetration power
But the pressure increased. And the counterattacks? “You can surprise them, we’re not the slowest,” Hans-Joachim Watzke had hoped. But BVB usually failed to outplay the front row and appeared hectic and clumsy. Adeyemi and Malen lacked coordinated running routes, there was no quality connection player, and the relief dropped to zero in this phase.
After the break, Süle’s handball was the scene that turned everything around. Referee Gil Manzano (Spain) did not want to back down from his questionable decision despite a lengthy review. BVB tried to come out of their shell, but immediately conceded the second goal. Joker Jamie Bynoe-Gittens still hit the outside post (79th).