Erling Haaland scores from the second floor – and tears his former teammates out of all dreams of victory: Borussia Dortmund played strongly on Wednesday night, fought bravely, but still lost to Manchester City because of a sensational goal by the Norwegian. Sporting director Sebastian Kehl was nevertheless proud of the Black and Yellows, but also saw an obligation.
Mats Hummels stuck his foot into the path of the pass. Mats Hummels put his body inside. Mats Hummels sprinted and straddled the turf. In short: He did everything possible and permissible for a centre-back on this Wednesday evening to stop Erling Haaland. Niklas Süle did the same, later also Nico Schlotterbeck. But no matter how hard the three Borussia Dortmund centre-backs and their sacrificially fighting team-mates tried in Manchester, in the end they had to realise in the 2-1 defeat on the second matchday of the Champions League group stage that this Norwegian force of nature could not be fully dealt with.
Winning goal exemplifies Haaland
It was already the 86th minute in the match between ManCity and BVB when Haaland proved his absolute extra class with a move that most others in this world would not even be capable of. He rose high into the air to deliver an offside cross from Joao Cancelo towards the Dortmund goal with his foot in kung-fu style. He succeeded, the ball zapped into the net. It was a fantastic goal, an “instant classic” like the Oasis hit “Wonderwall”, which later resounded from the stadium speakers. A goal that will still be talked about in a year’s time, probably even in many years to come, because it is so exemplary of this exceptional player Haaland, who on Wednesday evening shook his former teammates at BVB out of their dreams.
“Not many players in the world score that goal,” said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic appreciatively. In the past years, we have benefited from Erling because he scored goals like that for us.” Now the Norwegian is scoring them for Manchester City – and making this team, already packed with world-class players, even better.
And yet the Terzic eleven had victory in sight for a long time on Wednesday night. And it wasn’t by chance, because the luck of the game kept sending the Citizens’ shots flying at the post and crossbar. No, Dortmund’s interim lead through Jude Bellingham (56th) was deserved at that point and into the final stages.
Time one: BVB’s home defence keeps Haaland in check
“I’ve rarely seen Manchester City so bereft of ideas as they were in the first half,” said Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl after the match. He did not have to fear any contradiction for this quite remarkable sentence, because not a single dangerous ball had flown in the direction of BVB keeper Alexander Meyer in the first 45 minutes. Haaland also paled before the break because Hummels and Süle permanently shielded him and their front men worked collectively in a concentrated, mature and consistent manner against the ball. “That was a quality we showed,” Kehl summed up, for whom it was therefore all the more bitter “that we can’t buy anything from it”.
For Pep Guardiola, who was faced with a difficult task for the third time in the third match with Terzic, still had a few aces up his sleeve. While Dortmund’s forces were increasingly fading, the Spaniard substituted the potential difference-makers Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva. Guardiola made changes, moving Silva and Kevin de Bruyne to the flanks to finally make an impact there.
The noose tightened tighter and tighter before Dortmund’s resistance was broken for the first time in the 80th minute when Marco Reus and Salih Öczan did not attack John Stones with enough energy and the Englishman took a quick shot from distance. It was a hard shot, but it was still stoppable. “Normally,” Kehl also had to admit, “Alex holds this ball.” This time, however, Meyer, who is currently standing in for the injured Dortmund regular keeper Gregor Kobel, did not get his hands up fast enough. It was a goal like a wake-up call for the 55,000 spectators in the stadium – and for Kung-Fu Haaland, Manchester’s new superhero.
“We played a very, very good game. But against ManCity, maybe the best team in the world, you have to be fully concentrated for 95 minutes. You have to go all the way, even if you get tired, suffer, don’t have much of the ball,” said an annoyed Emre Can, who was in Dortmund’s starting eleven for the first time this season and reeled off many metres, but was unable to close the defensive gap at 1:2, which Bellingham had opened up by dropping too deep. But the defensive all-rounder, who this time concentrated on the simple game and thus delivered one of his best games in the BVB jersey, also drew positives from these intense minutes against the English champions: “If we played every game like we did this time against Manchester,” he said, “we would win almost every game. “
Kehl: Build on performance in derby
The performance against the Skyblues was no comparison to the 0:3 in Leipzig four days earlier. In fact, it was much better than most of the performances BVB had put on the pitch in the recent past under Terzic and his predecessor Marco Rose. On paper, the result was the second defeat in a row – and that before the Revierderby against FC Schalke 04 on Saturday of all days – “but we can be proud of this performance,” said Kehl, who made a note in his players’ homework book: “For me, this performance is also accompanied by the obligation to perform in the same way on Saturday in the derby. If the team does that, then there can only be one winner.” After all, someone like Haaland, who could prevent that, only comes around once in the world – and he has to take care of Wolves from Wolverhampton on Saturday.
