Little risk, no reward – even an unusual wall tactic didn’t save Borussia Dortmund from a false start in the Champions League. Coach Edin Terzic’s team suffered a 0-2 (0-0) defeat against the star ensemble from Paris Saint-Germain, who were considered co-favorites for the title.
The plan to neutralize the French magic storm with a five-man chain made up of stars like Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Randal Kolo Muani only worked in the first half. After the restart, Paris capitalized on its superiority in front of 49,000 spectators in the Prinzenpark and achieved a deserved victory thanks to an extremely controversial hand penalty from Mbappé (49th) and a goal from ex-Dortmunder Achraf Hakimi (58th).
Anger about the hand penalty
The penalty whistle in particular caused BVB great displeasure. “I think it was a game-deciding scene and a total wrong decision,” said BVB consultant Matthias Sammer on Amazon Prime and got upset with the Spanish referee Jesus Gil Manzano: “I’m glad that artificial intelligence is coming soon. If I see the referee strutting around the pitch, it’s no fun.”
After Dembélé’s cross, Mbappé shot the ball into the hands of German national defender Niklas Süle from close range, Manzano awarded a penalty and the VAR no longer intervened. “It’s no use. We have discussed it in recent years, we will discuss it in the next few years. As long as there is no clear line, there is little we can do about it,” said Terzic, who also admitted that BVB was not brave I’ve played enough. “We gave the ball away far too quickly.”
This meant that BVB fell behind early on in Group F, which was rated as difficult, with its other opponents Newcastle United and AC Milan, who drew 0-0 at the start. The next opponent is Milan at home on October 4th.
No Niclas Füllkrug, no Sebastien Haller, but three central defenders – Terzic chose the defensive variant of his starting line-up against what is probably the fastest storm in Europe. The concept worked in the first 45 minutes, at least in terms of the result, even though the PSG preponderance was oppressive with 72 percent ball possession and 10:4 corners. BVB made life difficult for themselves, especially by losing the ball unnecessarily quickly. In return, Mats Hummels and Co. kept the spaces tight, so that the PSG offensive only had a few clear chances to score. Dortmund were lucky in the 19th minute when the Portuguese Vitinha hit the post. The hosts had a lot going on with Dembélé, who had once left BVB for Barcelona.
Harmless BVB offensive
On the offensive, however, little went together for Dortmund. In the few transition situations, the Black and Yellows acted too imprecisely – apart from an unplaced shot from Donyell Malen (14th). What made matters worse for Dortmund was that Marcel Sabitzer was injured early after a sprint and had to leave the field to replace Felix Nmecha.
Dortmund’s defensive tactics weren’t enough, as Mbappé coldly converted the penalty and scored his eighth goal of the season. The Bundesliga team had to open up something and was caught cold. Hakimi followed up with a one-two with Vitinha.
Terzic reacted, bringing national striker Füllkrug, veteran Marco Reus and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens into the game – but without resounding success. Bynoe-Gittens still hit the outside post (79′). As with the round of 16 exit against PSG in March 2020, BVB was left behind.
