BVB in the Champions League: Dortmund draw against Lazio Roma

D.The situation at Borussia Dortmund remains complicated in those early days of December, when the club wanted to get rid of the frustration of the Bundesliga defeat against Cologne the previous weekend. With a rather gray 1: 1 against Lazio Roma they have reached their minimum goal, the Champions League round of 16, but the team is currently experiencing a small drop in performance. Raffael Guerreiro had put BVB in the lead, Ciro Immobile drew with a penalty in this first match of the 2020 European Cup, which BVB had to face without Champions League top scorer Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian had scored 16 times during his twelve missions in this competition, but now he had torn some muscle fibers in the last workout. “He won’t play until early January,” said coach Lucien Favre; it was a shock even before kick-off. For a long time the Dortmund team have survived these stressful weeks relatively well: “We had no injuries,” explained the coach, “and now suddenly” his team has also been hit.

Emre Can and Thomas Meunier were also out, and to top it all off, Mats Hummels was injured in recovery time and limped off the pitch. “Mats is a tough guy, I hope he’ll be available again on Saturday,” Marco Reus later said in a first reaction. The fact that the coach had made seven changes to the starting XI compared to the previous Bundesliga weekend was certainly also due to the poor performance in 1: 2 against 1. FC Köln. Jadon Sancho, Axel Witsel and Julian Brandt initially sat outside.

“Incredible. This is the theater”

This completely renewed team played more committed and devoted, at least in the first half. However, even on this day, better actions were mixed with mistakes and inaccuracies. For a long time, good ideas for building the game were lacking and balls were lost several times, which provided a good basis for the attacks of the Romans. And on the offensive, the BVB’s actions often seemed too cumbersome. But the Bundesliga club often has a hard time dealing with well-organized opponents.

The first good chance had the Lazio professional Joaquin Correa, who fired from close range at goalkeeper Roman Bürki (19th). Shortly thereafter, Sergej Milincovic-Savic appeared in a good position in front of Dortmund’s goal at the end of the best attack of the first half, but played sideways instead of finishing himself. (28 °). Shortly after, Dortmund became dangerous with two quick shots from Marco Reus and Giovanni Reyna, but in both cases the angle was relatively sharp (29 °). The game was now relatively even, without becoming classy and first goalless. Interval became increasingly probable, but BVB still scored. After a long ball intercepted by the opposing goalkeeper Reina and an assist from Hazard, Guerreiro manages to manage the 1-0 rather happy (45 °).

The longer the second half lasted, the clearer Dortmund’s inattentive tendency became. Lazio played more and more forcefully. After an hour Bürki had to block a dangerous 16-meter shot from Immobile, and five minutes later Milinkovic-Savic fell in a duel with Nico Schulz, recently replaced by the ailing Guerreiro, in the penalty area. Immobile converted the following penalty, considered controversial by many BVB professionals and also on the sidelines of Dortmund, in 1: 1 (67th). This goal left its mark on Borussia, who was very unsure for a few minutes. Delaney still has the chance to take the lead (78th), but the guests from Italy remain more dangerous, Bürki saved several times.

“We had our chances to score, we could have gone 2-0 or 2-1. We get an unnecessary penalty which is not. It’s incredible. It’s theater, it’s in the pool. He is exaggerating. But we are qualified, period. Finished. This is the most important thing, ”said coach Favre after the final whistle. And captain Reus summed up: “We were too low in the second half and we let ourselves go far behind. We no longer had access, it can’t happen at home. We would have liked to have finished first the group with a win. “

BVB has thus reached the knockout stage of the Champions League, but a relaxed trip to the group stage final in St. Petersburg is not waiting for them. It’s still about first place at the final table, and that can be important because if you were the winner of the group in the next round, you’d be second. This could be a crucial advantage during the next round.