Champions League
BVB also lost a win against Milan in the premier class
BVB professional Mats Hummels (l.) and Milan’s Rafael Leão shared the points in Dortmund. Photo
© David Inderlied/dpa
Borussia Dortmund showed a committed performance against AC Milan – but it wasn’t rewarded in the end. Without the targeted home wins, things will get complicated in the difficult Group F.
Edin Terzic gave his players a hearty high five, which was echoed from the south stand BVB professionals were met with chants and encouraging applause.
Despite a strong fighting performance, Borussia Dortmund still has to wait for its first win of the season in the Champions League. BVB couldn’t get past a 0-0 draw against the top Italian football club AC Milan.
“I think we played a decent game in terms of commitment, will and willingness to run. But what was missing today was the penetration,” said coach Terzic at DAZN. “It was an even game, so it was a deserved draw.”
Two games, one point
After two games in awesome Group F, which also includes Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United, BVB only has one point. In front of 81,365 spectators in the atmospheric Dortmund stadium, the Revierclub played with commitment, created chances, but was too imprecise in front of the goal.
“We’ve already shown a good performance. I thought we were very superior, but we were a bit unclever once or twice,” said national striker Niclas Füllkrug. “That can still give us self-confidence and you can see that anything is possible in this group. You can’t write anyone off in this group.” At the same time, Newcastle won surprisingly clearly 4-1 against PSG.
BVB played as they had in previous Bundesliga games: without any big spectacle. But at least Borussia impressed from the start with their compactness and aggressiveness against the ball. Milan only became dangerous in the 37th minute when Olivier Giroud suddenly got the ball in front of Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel – but pushed it over the goal.
Bicycle kick from Brandt
Otherwise, the hosts worked their way into the duel with the Italians little by little. The shots from Donyell Malen (28th) and Niclas Füllkrug (31st) just missed the goal, and an overhead kick from Julian Brandt (36th) just went over. Whenever the guests became dangerous, it was almost always through the extremely fast Rafael Leão on the left flank.
In order to stop the Portuguese international, Terzic relied on the usual back four around veteran Mats Hummels. Niklas Süle was once again only on the bench, while captain Emre Can was allowed to play from the start again. The 29-year-old led the way in midfield with healthy toughness and received a questionable yellow card in the 25th minute. The action was symbolic of the Dortmund game.
Terzic’s team worked, fought – and relied on Brandt’s creativity offensively. Almost all attacks were initiated by the national player. After the disappointing 2-0 defeat at the start against Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia wanted to improve offensively this time. However, it was not always possible to find space against the deep-lying guests.
Milan relies on the counterattack
From this compact defense, Milan played on the counterattack. In addition to the fast Leão, the Italians relied on another speed dribbler who is well known in Dortmund: Christian Pulisic, who was active for BVB until 2019. In the 54th minute, the American suddenly had a great chance to take the lead, but was denied by Kobel from a few meters.
Such rooms were available to the guests because BVB really wanted to take the lead. Terzic went for the win and brought in the fast offensive players Karim Adeyemi (64th) and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (72nd). The BVB coach tirelessly encouraged his players on the sidelines, but Dortmund lacked precision in finishing for long periods of the game. And in the end the hosts were lucky too.
First, Milan’s striker Samuel Chukwueze (86′) was denied by Kobel, who reacted strongly again, and Tijjani Reijnders’ follow-up shot narrowly missed. But Dortmund also had more chances in a game that was now becoming increasingly open – but, as before, they didn’t take advantage of them.