Dhe two young match winners hugged, grinning, their trainer Lucien Favre took a deep breath. With a lot of patience, but little shine, Borussia Dortmund has for the time being dispelled the worries of an early exit in the Champions League. In the dreary first home game in the long BVB European Cup history against the extremely defensive ensemble from Zenit St. Petersburg, the Bundesliga third achieved a difficult 2-0 (0-0) win.
Thanks to the goals of Jadon Sancho (79./Foul penalty) and Erling Haaland (92.), the Dortmunders were spared another disappointment a week after the false start at Lazio (1: 3). With another success next Wednesday at Club Bruges, BVB would be back on target.
“We often had the ball and had to play fast,” said goal scorer Haaland after the game. “We knew the chance would come. In the end, there are three important points. We had to be patient, it’s a very important victory. “Favre compared the defense of the guests with” two buses in front of the goal, it was very, very difficult. “Sports director Michael Zorc said:” We are satisfied because we can play the game more than deserved to have won. “
The dramatically increased corona numbers had only ensured that the Dortmunders had to do without fans on Wednesday morning. BVB could have used any support for this. “We mustn’t allow ourselves any more slip,” Zorc had demanded. Accordingly, BVB started against very clever guests who had also lost their first game (1: 2 against Bruges).
Bollwerk prevented the BVB combination game for a long time
With a back four as in the derby win against Schalke and captain Marco Reus in the starting eleven, Dortmund tried to get behind the defense of the Russian double winner with quick passes, who was low and initially only counted on the brawny striker Artjom Dzjuba. Giovanni Reyna gave Dortmund’s first warning shot from the edge of the penalty area (15th) – but there were too few of them until well into the second half.
Haaland had a lot of trouble in the penalty area of the guests with the mostly seven to eight withdrawn Zenit professionals, who clearly obstructed the BVB combination game in the crucial areas. The 20-year-old only came to his first degree in the 42nd minute, but his deep left-footed shot just missed the goal.
Behind Haaland, Reus, Reyna and Sancho rotated a lot. “Pass faster,” said BVB coach Lucien Favre from the sidelines on the pitch. Without speed, the attentively defending guests could hardly be approached. Zenit goalkeeper Michail Kerschakow steered a Reus free kick past the goal (26th), and the goalkeeper was on the spot in the second attempt by the BVB captain out of the game (39th).
The Russian master only did the bare minimum on the offensive. The clash between BVB goalkeeper Roman Bürki, who had again been given preference over Marwin Hitz, with Sebastián Driussi in the first half was the most noticeable action of coach Sergej Semak’s team (35th). The first corner kick for Zenit came in the 76th minute.
Dortmund continued to dominate the game in the second half, but BVB continued to look too slow in front of the opposing goal. The many Dortmund passes were often predictable for the guests. Favre reacted after a little over an hour and brought Thorgan Hazard in the pouring rain, who made his comeback after surviving a muscle fiber tear (67th). The Belgian fitted in well with a first shot on goal (69th). The penalty whistle from referee Björn Kuipers – brought out by Hazard – helped BVB enormously. Sancho sure transformed. Haaland made the final decision.
RB Leipzig desolate in the second half of the game
At the same time, RB Leipzig was unable to stop Manchester United’s dominance of almost two decades at Old Trafford against German teams. The ensemble of coach Julian Nagelsmann went down with the English record champions with 0: 5 (0: 1) and had to give up the championship lead in Group H of the premier class with the first competitive defeat of the season. “To fly home 5-0 is a pack. We have learned the hard way and have to learn from it. After the 2-0 win we didn’t defend at all, ”said coach Julian Nagelsmann.
After their opening win against Basaksehir, RB are now level on points with Paris St. Germain. The French previously won 2-0 in Istanbul. The last German victory in the time-honored venue in Manchester was achieved by FC Bayern Munich in 2000/2001 (1-0).
Mason Greenwood (21st minute), the youngest player on the field at the age of 19, shot the Red Devils in front of the ghost backdrop at Old Trafford, before Rashford with a three-pack (73./78./90.+2) and Anthony Martial made their first home win of the season perfect with a penalty kick (87th). Before that, there was a 1: 3 against Crystal Palace in the Premiere League, a crashing 1: 6 debacle against Tottenham Hotspur and a 0: 0 against Chelsea. “The result doesn’t feel good and reads more clearly than it was,” said Nagelsmann.
Nagelsmann, who stood out on the sidelines with a gray checkered jacket, initially left Marcel Sabitzer and Tyler Adams, who were recently slightly battered, on the bench. In the back three of the central defense, the Frenchman Ibrahima Konaté was preferred to Willi Orban. Man United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer surprised with Paul Pogba on the left and with Donny van de Beek in midfield and surprisingly did without Rashford in the starting line-up. For this he bet on Greenwood, which paid off immediately.
At least in terms of fashion, RB coach Nagelsmann (right) was able to set accents in the duel at Manchester United
What: REUTERS
The striker ran away from Dayot Upamecano on the half left after a Pogba pass in a suspicious position and pushed past RB keeper Peter Gulacsi for the lead (21st). Despite a double check by the video referees, the hit was not withdrawn. For the Saxons it was a wake-up call: First Christopher Nkunku (21st) tested United keeper David de Gea, then Kevin Kampl (24th) got stuck with his shot in defense. RB tried hard, but could not playfully set accents against running hosts.
After the change, RB increased the pace, played the balls more directly and thus had more freedom in switching situations. Most of the time, however, it was the end of the line at the penalty area. Man United remained enormously present in the duels and played more precisely on the offensive. After a good hour Nagelsmann brought in first Captain Sabitzer, then the Norwegian Alexander Soerloth – Solskjaer parallel to Rashford.
The equalizer for RB prevented in the 65th minute de Gea with a brilliant save after a header from Konaté from close range. On the other hand, Gulacsi (71st) was spot on after a set piece against Anthony Martial who jumped in. Then the show of the substitute Rashford started, who turned three times as cold as ice.
Cristiano Ronaldo says hello from the treadmill
Juventus Turin also lost the top game of the Champions League against FC Barcelona without superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. The Italian champions lost 2-0 (0-1) to the Catalans and suffered their first defeat, while Lionel Messi & Co. are unbeaten at the top of the Group G table. The goals for Barça marked Ousmane Dembelé (14th minute) and Lionel Messi (90./foul penalty). The home side had three bad luck because three goals by Alvaro Morata were not recognized because of an offside position. In the other group game, Dynamo Kiev and Ferencváros Budapest separated 2-2 (2-0).
Ronaldo was not in the squad after his coronavirus infection. Obviously, the hoped-for negative result did not materialize, even when Ronaldo announced on Instagram on Wednesday: “I feel good and healthy. Forze Juve! ”Under this post, Ronaldo published another comment, according to media reports, which also documented this with corresponding screenshots, in which he described the so-called PCR tests as“ bullshit ”. The 35-year-old Portuguese, who has 241 million subscribers on Instagram, is said to have deleted the entry later. Shortly before the game, he then posted a video of him jogging on the treadmill, laughing and relaxed, and crossing his fingers for his team. But it didn’t bring luck.
According to the Corona regulations of the European Football Union, the player must submit a negative test at least 24 hours before kick-off so that he can be used. Ronaldo was diagnosed with a corona infection on October 13 while staying with the national team. Since then, the star striker has been in isolation and has already missed two league games and the first in the premier class away from Kiev (2-0).
PSG coach Tuchel has to tremble for superstar Neymar
The early Wednesday games meanwhile had two away wins with German participation. Thomas Tuchel and Paris St. Germain scored three points at Erdogan’s club Basaksehir, but had to take his superstar off the field early. Neymar injured his thigh after a little over 20 minutes. The Brazilian tried again but was unable to continue.
Without Neymar, the French champions struggled for a long time, only being redeemed by Moise Kean’s header (64th). The German national player Julian Draxler (thigh injury) was not part of the squad, national team colleague Thilo Kehrer came 17 minutes before the end to bring the victory over time. Thanks to Kean’s second goal, it was even one goal higher (79th). Like against Leipzig, the Turkish club lost 2-0.
In Group E, Chelsea celebrated a 4-0 win at FK Krasnodar. Significantly involved: the former Bundesliga stars Timo Werner and Kai Havertz. Werner first takes out a penalty, but Jorginho missed it (14th).
Havertz initiated the lead through Hudson-Odoi (37th), before ex-Leipzig Werner really got going in the final phase. First he converted a hand penalty (76th), then he prepared the 3-0 through Ziyech (79th). In the final minute, Joker and ex-Dortmund-based Christian Pulisic were also able to enter the goalscorer list (90th).
Antonio Rüdiger was also allowed to play again after a long time, played 90 minutes in central defense and had a duel rate of 100 percent. In addition, 93 out of 96 passports arrived (97 percent).
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