BVB lose 2-0 to Inter Milan | OneFootball

Personnel matters:Following Aaron Anselmino's return to Chelsea after his loan spell, Daniel Svensson's suspension (red card at Tottenham), Waldemar Anton's illness and Niklas Süle's injury, head coach Niko Kovac suddenly had a defensive problem: there were only five experienced and “drilled” professionals available for the five positions in the back three and on the wings of the midfield. In addition, midfielders Marcel Sabitzer (calf problems) and Salih Özcan (not registered) were missing. Compared to the league match at Union Berlin (a 3-0 win), Kovac made two changes to the starting line-up: 20-year-old Filippo Mane and Ramy Bensebaini came into the team for Anton and Svensson. There were only four outfield players on the bench: Adeyemi, Brandt, Couto and Chukwuemeka.

The match:In the sleet in Dortmund, Serhou Guirassy had the chance to open the scoring after ten minutes: a pass into the centre beat the opponent's offside trap, but Guirassy, who was completely unmarked and could have finished from eight metres out, failed to strike the ball cleanly. Before and after that, BVB had great difficulty finding gaps in Inter's tightly-packed defence. And in transition, Inter were confident on the ball and repeatedly looked dangerous. When in possession, both wingers moved into the centre to create numerical superiority. In the 16th minute, Bisseck, who had pushed forward, had two good chances to score.

Overall, it was a first half of modest quality with no (further) highlights in or around the penalty areas. The Black & Yellows hardly ever got behind the opponent’s back line. The teams went into the break with Inter having had six shots on goal compared to four for BVB.

The second half offered much more intensity after the restart. But Inter remained a difficult opponent to play against. The Dortmund players always had two opponents on their heels when they had the ball. On the other hand, Inter occasionally showed flashes of the class expected of Serie A leaders – Bensebaini (64) and Nmecha (66) were both required to make last-ditch interventions.

Inter stepped up their attacking efforts in the final quarter of an hour and took the lead in the 80th minute with a direct free kick from Dimarco, who curled the ball over the wall from exactly 20 metres out. This was preceded by Bensebaini losing possession on the left wing. Dortmund were unable to mount any further dangerous attacks and suffered their first home defeat in this competition in over a year. Instead, Diouf added a second goal for Inter in stoppage time.Outlook:  The play-offs will be drawn on Friday, where BVB could face Bayer Leverkusen or Atalanta. In the Bundesliga, the action continues on Sunday (17:30 CET) with a home match against 1. FC Heidenheim.

UEFA Champions League, Matchday 8Wednesday, 28 January 2026, 21:00 CET

Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Mane (89, Couto), Can, Schlotterbeck – Ryerson, Bellingham, Nmecha, Bensebaini (81, Chukwuemeka) – Beier, Guirassy (68, Adeyemi), Fabio Silva (81, Brandt)Substitutes: Meyer, Ostrzinski

Inter Milan: Sommer – Akanji, Acerbi, Bisseck – Luis Henrique, Sucic (88, Bastoni), Zielinski (74, Frattesi), Mkhitaryan (88, Diouf), Dimarco – Thuram (88, Martinez), Bonny (57, Esposito)Substitutes: di Gennaro, Martinez; Carlos Augusto, Cocchi, Darmian, de Vrij, Bovo