For 80 minutes, BVB put up a strong stand against the superstars of Manchester City and even deservedly lead. But then Pep Guardiola’s team, which had been sluggish until then, turned the game in four minutes. Of course, Erling Haaland puts the finishing touches. And what a crazy-brilliant goal it is.
Long on the chain, in the end still merciless: The goal “monster” Erling Haaland brought Borussia Dortmund a bonus point at the painful Champions League reunion. BVB effectively blocked Manchester City’s pass machine for a long time on the second day of group play – the former crowd favorite Haaland ultimately became the match winner of the English champions at 1: 2 (0: 0). The BVB appearance nevertheless gives fresh courage for the Bundesliga district derby against Schalke 04 on Saturday.
After his dream start for City (twelve goals in eight competitive games), Dortmund kept Haaland almost completely off the ball until the final phase. Manchester rarely got around to putting their game in order at the Etihad Stadium. After Dortmund made it 1-0 by Jude Bellingham (56′), a sensation even seemed possible, but John Stones (80′) and Haaland (84′) turned the game around with an artistic kung fu goal after a fantastic pass from João Cancelo . Borussia’s England curse continues with the eighth defeat in a row.
Extremely compact demeanor, a bit of luck in the match and a “cream day” from substitute goalkeeper Alexander Meyer had been mentioned by coach Edin Terzic as components for a successful evening. After a minute’s silence in honor of the late Queen Elizabeth, BVB managed with surprisingly little effort to stop the otherwise well-oiled structure of the Citizens. The ingredients were right. Terzic relied on more physique: He put Emre Can in front of a four-man defense chain, in which Nico Schlotterbeck was surprisingly missing due to back pain. Niklas Süle and Mats Hummels were supposed to oppose Haaland, while Can, Bellingham and Salih Özcan took over the task of approaching the pass routes and attacking the city control center.
“On the sixth day God created Manchester City,” read one banner, but the English champions played unwittingly. De Bruyne always had a special guard on his feet, the BVB midfielders handed the metronome of the city building to each other. Meyer intercepted crosses safely. Nevertheless, the German vice-champion saw himself pushed into his own penalty area with ten men at times: City tightened the corset. After winning the ball, BVB repeatedly had the switching moments demanded by sports director Sebastian Kehl – Özcan fired the first dangerous shot of the game (16th).
Another good sign was that Joao Cancelo, annoyed, fired from distance for Manchester (27′). It bumped and jerked in City’s dreaded machine room, and in the meantime the sequences of passes even came to a standstill. Haaland had eleven ball contacts in the first half. Team manager Pep Guardiola spoke vigorously to his assistant, BVB watched with growing satisfaction. The chain links held up, one leg almost always got in the way of the combination. Deals were therefore rare – the highest quality even came on the other side: Reus had the huge opportunity to lead BVB (52nd). After a through ball from Özcan and a nice hook, he flicked the ball past the far corner.
Dortmund were in the game. And rightly so: after an extended corner kick, Reus sensitively crossed to Bellingham, Ederson in the city goal was beaten. Manchester reacted furiously and then attacked relentlessly.
Stones slammed the ball into the net, Meyer couldn’t get his fists up. And then the hour of the previously pale Haaland struck: Cancelo chipped the ball from the left corner of the penalty area with his outside instep over the entire BVB defense, the Norwegian climbed up – and acrobatically hit the middle of the BVB heart in the manner of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
