MErling Haaland didn’t play in Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win against Sporting Lisbon, but the striker was omnipresent that evening. Before kick-off, he was recognized as the most successful goalscorer of the previous Champions League season for his ten goals. Above all, however, there was extensive discussion of the question of whether BVB would attack again as harmlessly as in the 1-0 defeat in Mönchengladbach at the weekend – an unpleasant discussion for the rest of the team.
Marco Rose reacted almost annoyed when he was confronted with relevant questions in the TV interview: “Erling is not there, if nobody had asked me, I would not have noticed,” he said with bitter irony. In fact, others were there this time. Donyell Malen (37th minute) scored the precious winning goal, so Haaland had found a worthy representative. And Malen was able to celebrate for a first goal for BVB at all, which brought in three important points.
Overall, Dortmund were a bit more offensive than last in the Bundesliga, which was also due to the structure with which Marco Reus enriched the game. “Our captain is a very important factor, Marco gives us an incredible amount of charisma and quality with the ball, and he is also important in the run-up,” said Rose without being asked, so as not to have to keep talking about Haaland. Together with Malen and Thorgan Hazard, Reus formed a three-way offensive. In addition, Julian Brandt was back in the squad after a muscle injury and had to be substituted on earlier than Dortmund had hoped.
After just three minutes, Mahmoud Dahoud injured his knee and could not continue. But that wasn’t the reason that Dortmund took a while to get going. On the offensive, not only did Haaland lack self-confidence and physical strength, but also precision and assertiveness. Reus had the only possibility of the first half hour when he stumbled and shot rather harmlessly at the Portuguese goal (19th).
It was more dangerous during this phase in the offensive of Sporting, where Pedro Goncalves was also missing the most successful attacker of the previous season. At first Tiago Tomas only narrowly missed an assist in the penalty area (22nd minute), before Mats Hummels made a bad pass deep in his own half, which Paulinho intercepted, but the subsequent chance missed. But the longer the first half lasted, the better the solutions that BVB found in the attack zone, and in the 37th minute they scored a very nice goal. Jude Bellingham played a wonderful pass into the depths to Malen, which hit the long corner of the goal less powerfully than precisely from twelve meters.
Painting worked much better in other situations than in his first weeks in Dortmund. So far, many supporters have been rather disappointed by the Dutchman, who had come to the area for 30 million euros from PSV Eindhoven. That evening he played well, was often playable and worked a lot. Whereby the mood in the stadium after Malen’s goal was a little clouded by a rather extravagant brawl in the guest block. It was pretty quiet in the minutes before the break. But at some point the situation calmed down, and in the second half an intense fight developed on the pitch, which was no longer particularly sophisticated in terms of football. Dortmund played variable, sometimes rather low, in other phases they had possession or tried to Conquer the ball in pressing. Reus (48th) and Malen (74th) scored more goals, but were each just offside, but neither team managed much constructive action. The Dortmunders could be happy that the Portuguese couldn’t think of much more in the attack, even as they risked more and more.
In contrast to the Bundesliga, Haaland’s failure on this evening was without consequence, the Revierklub’s start into the new European Cup season remains flawless. With six points behind them, the team can go to the away game in Amsterdam relatively relaxed, where BVB will play their third game in mid-October. After the defeat last weekend, the team is now under pressure, especially in the Bundesliga, where FC Augsburg will be playing in Dortmund on Saturday. But with Malen they now have a second goalscorer who may slowly start rolling.
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