Champions League Player Ratings | Borussia Dortmund 0-2 Inter – Dortmund fail to finish in the top eight following two late goals from the visitors | OneFootball

As the league phase of this season’s Champions League reached its conclusion on Wednesday night, Borussia Dortmund still had plenty of work to do in its bid to qualify for the round of 16 via a top-eight league phase finish.

Two points shy of eighth-placed Chelsea going into the evening, BVB had to win and hope for results elsewhere to go their way to achieve their goal that looked so attainable just two Champions League matchdays ago. They faced an Inter Milan side sitting five points clear at the top of Serie A, but similarly in need of a Champions League victory as they travelled to the Ruhrgebiet.

Niko Kovač made two changes to the team that defeated Union Berlin at the weekend, with Ramy Bensebaini and Filippo Mané coming in for the suspended Daniel Svensson and Waldemar Anton, who missed out through illness. Dortmund were given a slight boost an hour before kick-off when Serie A top scorer Lautaro Martínez was named on the bench for the 2010 winners.

Dortmund began the game on the front foot and couldn’t have hoped for a better opportunityto take the lead just 10 minutes in. Following a corner which was cleared centrally only to the feet of Julian Ryerson, the Norwegian sent the ball back into the danger area. It fell kindly to Serhou Guirassy, but the Guinean was off balance as he tried to get his shot away and failed to trouble Yann Sommer in the Inter net.

The visitors soon grew into the game and fashioned a couple of half-chances of their own through Yann Bisseck. Inter forward Ange-Yoan Bonny then had a decent opportunity after Luís Henrique did well to beat Ramy Bensebaini and deliver a cross, forcing an awkward save from Gregor Kobel.

Aside from a nasty moment for Inter defender Francesco Acerbi, who dislocated his finger midway through the half, there was little else to report in a first half that offered very little to test the two Swiss goalkeepers.

The second half began as the first had ended, with very little going on for either side, until the 63rd minute, when young forward Francesco Esposito was put through on goal for the away side, only to be foiled by an astonishing tackle from Ramy Bensebaini.

As the second half wore on, it looked increasingly unlikely that BVB would be able to finish in the top eight, even with a win. Inter, however, were just a point behind Paris Saint-Germain, who occupied the coveted eighth place. Therefore, if Inter could find a winner, it would send them through.

They pushed on and won themselves a free kick in an extremely dangerous position after Felix Nmecha upended Federico Dimarco. The Italian wing-back took the free kick himself and sent it beautifully into the back of the net, out of reach of Gregor Kobel. Provisionally sending Cristian Chivu’s team into the last 16.

As Dortmund pushed for an equaliser, Inter went on to grab a second with almost the last kick of the game, courtesy of a wonderful goal from Andy Diouf, sealing the three points for the away side and condemning Dortmund to a 17th-place finish.

A frustrating night for Die Schwarzgelben, meaning they now face a two-legged play-off tie to make it to the last 16 and, perhaps crucially, will play the second leg of that tie away from home. As for Inter, their win would ultimately be in vain, as results elsewhere meant they finished in 10th place.

Borussia Dortmund 0–2 Inter Milan | Player Ratings

Borussia Dortmund:

Gregor Kobel (6) – Emre Can (6), Nico Schlotterbeck (6), Filippo Mané (7) – Julian Ryerson (5), Jobe Bellingham (6), Felix Nmecha (5), Ramy Bensebaini (7) – Maximilian Beier (5), Serhou Guirassy (5), Fabio Silva (6)

Others: Karim Adeyemi (6) Carney Chukwuemeka (-), Julian Brandt (-), Yan Couto (-)

GGFN | Harry Good