Ten strong minutes are enough for PSG to win against harmless BVB
Status: 19.09.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
PSG superstar Kylian Mbappé initiated the comfortable victory against BVB with his penalty
Which: AP/Michel Euler
BVB has no chance at Paris St. Germain and loses its opening game of the Champions League 0-2. PSG doesn’t do much more than necessary, ten strong minutes after the break are enough for the French to earn a deserved victory. Borussia Dortmund tries hard, but is unable to turn the game around.
Little risk, no reward – even an unusual wall tactic didn’t save Borussia Dortmund from a false start in the Champions League. Coach Edin Terzic’s team suffered a 0-2 (0-0) defeat against the star ensemble from Paris Saint-Germain, who were considered co-favorites for the title. The plan to neutralize the French magic storm with a five-man chain made up of stars like Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Randal Kolo Muani only worked in the first half. After the restart, Paris capitalized on its superiority and achieved a deserved victory thanks to an extremely controversial hand penalty from Mbappé (49th) and a goal from ex-Dortmund player Achraf Hakimi (58th).
“It’s no use complaining about the penalty. We have discussed this for the last few years, we will discuss it in the next few years. As long as there is no clear line, there is little we can do about it,” said Terzic, who also admitted that BVB did not play courageously enough. “We gave the ball away far too quickly.”
This meant that BVB fell behind early on in Group F, which was rated as difficult, with its other opponents Newcastle United and AC Milan, who drew 0-0 at the start. The next opponent is Milan at home on October 4th.
Kylian Mbappé only showed his top class in the second half
Which: AP/Michel Euler
The penalty whistle caused great displeasure and put BVB on the losing road. After Dembélé’s cross, Mbappé shot the ball into the hands of German national defender Niklas Süle from close range. A tough decision from the Spanish referee Jesus Gil Manzano, which was not taken back by the video referee.
Terzic initially leaves Füllkrug, Reus and Haller outside
No Niclas Füllkrug, no Sebastien Haller, but three central defenders – Terzic chose the defensive variant of his starting line-up against what was probably the fastest storm in Europe. The concept worked in the first 45 minutes, at least in terms of the result, even though the PSG preponderance was oppressive with 72 percent ball possession and 10:4 corners. BVB made life difficult for themselves, especially by losing the ball unnecessarily quickly. In return, Mats Hummels and Co. kept the spaces tight, so that the PSG offensive only had a few clear chances to score. Dortmund were lucky in the 19th minute when the Portuguese Vitinha hit the post. The hosts had a lot going on with Dembélé, who had once left BVB for Barcelona.
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On the offensive, however, little went together for Dortmund. In the few switching situations, the Black and Yellows acted too imprecisely – apart from an unplaced shot from Donyell Malen (14th). What made matters worse for Dortmund was that Marcel Sabitzer was injured early after a sprint and had to leave the field to replace Felix Nmecha.
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Dortmund’s defensive tactics weren’t enough, as Mbappé coldly converted the penalty and scored his eighth goal of the season. The Bundesliga team had to open up something and was caught cold. Hakimi followed up with a one-two with Vitinha.
Terzic reacted, bringing national striker Füllkrug, veteran Marco Reus and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens into the game – but without resounding success. Bynoe-Gittens still hit the outside post (79′). As with the round of 16 exit against PSG in March 2020, BVB was left behind.
