BVB leave it late to seal first Champions League win | OneFootball

Borussia tried hard, but in the first half they were not quick enough to act, with the game overshadowed by the withdrawal of Konstantinos Karetsas and concern for his condition. In the 24th minute, the Greek player raised his arm during an attack, then went down and covered his face with his arm. He was treated for several minutes by two doctors before being carried off the pitch on a stretcher. Circulatory problems were diagnosed as the cause. The Greek was taken to hospital for further examinations.

BVB – with two changes compared with the match in Hoffenheim – had two half-chances early on (Sabitzer was blocked, Guirassy missed Beier’s cross), but after that there was a lot of lull in the game. Villarreal defended deep in a 5-4-1 block. It was only shortly before half-time that Borussia were able to build pressure and then created chances through Ethan Nwaneri, whose shot was blocked (44th), and Serhou Guirassy, who rounded goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi but still could not get the ball past him (45+1).

The second half began with a “body check” by Mourino on Felix Nmecha in the penalty area, but the referee’s whistle stayed silent. In the 51st minute, Nwaneri was denied a shot by Gueye after Nmecha’s pass – but Gueye’s sliding challenge sent the ball against the right post. Two minutes later, Beier broke through on the left, beat Mourino, and whipped a sharp cross in from the byline. Gulacsi deflected the ball onto Veiga’s upper arm, and from there it crossed the line for 1:0.

Villarreal reshuffled, made attacking substitutions and pushed for an equaliser. Kobel, who had only really been tested once in the first half when he made a strong save from Buchanan (41st), now had to distinguish himself several times. He pushed Santi’s shot behind for a corner (65th). Mikautadze took it to the near post, where Mourino beat Ryerson in the aerial duel and headed into the near corner. Shortly afterwards, Kobel prevented 1:2 with a save against Buchanan (68th).

Niko Kovac’s substitutions turned the game back in the right direction. Seconds after coming on, Fábio Silva forced Gulacsi into a save (76th). And after a through ball from Bellingham on the right side into the penalty area, Silva sprinted through and squared the ball left into the six-yard box to Guirassy, who poked it over the line with his outstretched leg (80th). Gulacsi denied Fabio Silva to prevent the decider (83rd). Guirassy made sure of it two minutes later from the penalty spot after Mourino had hauled him to the ground following a corner. In stoppage time, Kobel parried a free-kick toward Guirassy – an unfortunate own goal…

There will not be another Champions League match for five weeks: on 14 October, BVB will play away to Bodø/Glimt in Norway. Before that, there are three Bundesliga matches: next Saturday at home against Paderborn, a week later in Stuttgart, and then against Bremen on the second weekend of October.

BORUSSIA DORTMUND – VILLARREAL CF 3:2 (0:0)

UEFA Champions League, Matchday 1

BVB: Kobel – Gadou, Anton, Svensson – Ryerson, Veerman, Nmecha (75th Bellingham), Beier (82nd Prates) – Karetsas (27th Nwaneri, 82nd Chukwuemeka), Sabitzer (75th Silva) – GuirassyBench: Meyer, Drewes; Reggiani, Inacio, AlbertUnavailable: Bensebaini (suspended), Can, Konstantelias (both cruciate ligament tear), Lerma, Mane (both muscle injury), Schlotterbeck (recovery training)

Villarreal: Gulacsi – Mourino, Navarro (83rd Alassane), Veiga, Cardona (46th Freeman) – Santi, Gueye – Saliba (59th Pepé) – Buchanan (75th Diatta), Mikautadze, Oluwaseyi (59th Moleiro)Bench: Gomez, Junior; Costa, Macia, Akhomach, Ayoze, Gerard

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.