Borussia Dortmund plays a strong first half and deserves to lead Real Madrid by two goals. After the break, the Whites come back in ruthless style and complete a gigantic comeback.
Strong start, bitter end – Borussia Dortmund also missed a surprise in the new edition of the Champions League final against Real Madrid. Almost five months after the unfortunate 0:2 in the showdown at Wembley, the previous league leaders lost to the defending champions from Spain 2:5 (2:0) in the third preliminary round game.
Unlike most recently in the Bundesliga, BVB performed courageously in the first half in front of 85,000 spectators at the Bernabéu football temple and were able to claim their first win after two goals from Donyell Malen (30th minute) and Jamie Gittens (34th). Spanish record champions hope. But the defending champions hit back in inimitable style and turned the game around with goals from Antonio Rüdiger (60th), Vinícius Júnior (62nd/86th/90th+3) and Lucas Vázquez (83rd).
“Real Madrid played faster in the second half and dominated the attacking midfield. “They are simply the best team in the world,” Matthias Sammer analyzed on Amazon Prime after the game. “We should learn in German football what is important. Namely, showing unmeasurable factors such as personality on the pitch. That annoys me a little, but otherwise everything is fine.”
Nevertheless, Borussia’s starting position remains acceptable after the successful start to the competition with victories over Bruges (3:0) and Celtic Glasgow (7:1). The next opponent is Sturm Graz on November 5th in Dortmund.
“I think we got into it well. In the second half we didn’t show the same face and stopped playing. Then Real gets chances and you know they’re going to make it all in,” explained BVB professional Felix Nmecha after the final whistle. One could draw positive lessons from the first half.
Dortmund plays cleverly at first
Football teacher Sahin showed courage with the favorites and banned the previous regulars Waldemar Anton, Pascal Groß and Emre Can from the starting line-up. Niklas Süle, Felix Nmecha and Gittens, who were brought into the team, should provide new momentum after the recent weak Bundesliga games.
In front of Dortmund’s previous coach Edin Terzić, who was now watching the game as a fan, BVB started with enthusiasm and had the first goal early on. However, Serhou Guirassy’s shot was too central to cause problems for Thibaut Courtois in the hosts’ goal. On the other side, Nmecha blocked superstar Kylian Mbappé’s first promising attempt.
Borussia did it cleverly. Dortmund kept holding the ball for a long time and thus exercised control of the game. That paid off. The Revierclub avoided mistakes by being too hectic in the build-up game, hardly allowed Real to get into transition situations and even took advantage of their few chances.
After a mistake by Vázquez in the Real penalty area, Guirassy held the ball strongly with his back to the goal. The center forward passed Malen precisely and the Dutchman made the BVB fans who had traveled with him cheer. And things got even better for the Black and Yellows. Malen broke through on the right, passed flat into the middle, where Gittens escaped the Madrid defense and scored to make it 2-0.
The crossbar helps BVB
Now things got wild. Real responded with furious attacks. Within a few seconds, first Rodrygo and then ex-Dortmund Jew Bellingham hit the crossbar (29th). On the other side, Julian Brandt failed with a powerful long-range shot past Courtois.
After the break, Real increased the pressure. Sahin brought in an additional defender in Anton for winger Gittens, but it didn’t help. The hosts equalized with two goals within a very short time. First the German international Rüdiger hit his head from close range, then Vinícius Júnior completed an attack after involuntary preparatory work by Nico Schlotterbeck to make it 2-2.
BVB seemed morally hit, Madrid was on the rise. Dortmund could no longer begin to build on the controlled performance of the first 45 minutes. Almost logically, Real won the game in the final phase with three goals. Vinícius Júnior became the match winner. “That’s simply why they are the champions in this competition,” said Terzic about the force with which Madrid performed in the second round.
rc/dpa
