Borussia Dortmund reach the last 16 of the Champions League ahead of schedule despite their tough group. An away coup at AC Milan was enough.
In the end, they lacked the strength for exuberant jubilation. Completely exhausted, but overjoyed and proud, the BVB professionals embraced each other after the coup at San Siro. With the 3:1 (0:1) victory at AC Milan on Tuesday evening, Borussia Dortmund reached the last 16 of the Champions League ahead of schedule despite a tough group. This means that BVB, who were previously only considered outsiders, will be spared a final match against Paris Saint-Germain on the last day of the preliminary round (December 13). But it will still be about winning the group.
“We did really well today. We were in the game quite well from the start and were able to create a lot of atmosphere with possession,” said the outstanding Mats Hummels on Amazon Prime Video. “I think we got a well-deserved win today.”
In front of 75,600 spectators, Marco Reus (10th penalty), Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (59th) and Karim Adeyemi (69th) secured the Bundesliga fourth-placed side’s second away coup after the 1-0 win at Newcastle on Tuesday evening. Samu Chukwueze (37) equalized for Milan in the meantime. The win has boosted BVB’s confidence ahead of Sunday’s top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash with unbeaten leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
However, anyone hoping for a better start for BVB after the turbulent 4-2 win against Gladbach was initially deceived. Not even six minutes had been played when full-back Julian Ryerson made a serious mistake going forward. The hosts’ counter-attack landed with Chukwueze, whose shot in the penalty area struck the upper arm of Nico Schlotterbeck – a questionable penalty was awarded, which Gregor Kobel defended strongly against Olivier Giroud.
Now BVB could have fallen back into old patterns, but instead the Kobel save gave the visitors a boost. Less than three minutes later, Bynoe-Gittens was fouled in the Milan penalty area – and Borussia were awarded a penalty. Reus did better than Giroud and confidently converted to take an early lead.
Dortmund went on to play with concentration and maturity, similar to the first half at Newcastle United a few weeks ago. Terzic was initially without Salih Özcan and Julian Brandt, who were on the bench due to colds. However, the starting eleven did well and BVB repeatedly posed a threat to the Italians, who were advancing high at times, via their quick wingers.
Until the same thing happened that had happened so often in the past: carelessness in defense. The nimble Chukwueze got the ball on the right wing and neither Bynoe-Gittens nor Ramy Bensebaini went one-on-one with the Nigerian; at best, they provided cover. The 24-year-old thanked them and scored the equalizer from an acute angle.
Bynoe-Gittens shines again – Adeyemi with the winner
It was one of those typical patterns that BVB fall into time and again. Almost everything went well, and the concentration in particular was right for the most part this time. Milan continued to press hard after the break, but Borussia defended securely and consistently for the most part. There were still some minor lapses. Fortunately for the visitors, AC were also guilty of these.
Similar to Dortmund’s defense, the Italians did not really intervene when BVB combined in front of the penalty area after just under 60 minutes. After a fine pass from Marcel Sabitzer, Bynoe-Gittens finally got to the ball and flicked it low into the left corner. The first good attack after the break gave Dortmund the lead again.
Shortly afterwards, Terzic made a somewhat surprising substitution for the young goalscorer. But the coach’s ideas paid off. Instead of the Englishman, substitute Adeyemi now shone, who was once again given too much space by the Milan defense, allowing him to score to make it 3:1.