CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLAYER RATINGS | Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Villarreal – A Serhou Guirassy double helps Dortmund win their opening Champions League game | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund fans packed out the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday evening as Die Schwarzgelben kicked off their UEFA Champions League campaign with a repeat of one of last season’s league phase matches, at home against Spanish outfit Villarreal.

On that occasion last November, a 4-0 win for the Germans saw them rise to fourth place in the league phase table. Dortmund faltered in the competition after that game, with a draw at home to Bodø/Glimt, and defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan saw them finish in 17th place and ultimately eliminated from the competition by Italian side Atalanta in the knockout play-off round.

Niko Kovač’s men have started the domestic season strongly, with two wins from two in the Bundesliga, and the Croatian would’ve been keen to ensure standards don’t drop in Europe this season. 

Dortmund got off to a bright start and with the game barely five minutes old, Joey Veerman’s threaded ball through to Marcel Sabitzer split the Villarreal backline, though the Austrian failed to get a clean strike on the ball and couldn’t beat former Leipzig stopper Peter Gulacsi. The visitors reacted well, however, and via a couple of half chances themselves, with Euro 2024 phenomenon Georges Mikautadze nearly took the lead.

The downer of the half for Dortmund was the fact that Konstantinos Karetsas was forced off the pitch with an injury just before the half-hour mark, the last thing BVB would’ve wanted. The Greek was replaced by Ethan Nwaneri, following his solid performance on his debut at that weekend in Sinsheim.

Kovac must have made his feelings clear at half-time, as BVB came out with real intensity at the beginning of the second period. Nwaneri twice came close to opening the scoring before Maximilian Beier eventually put the home side in front. The German beat his man on the byline and cut a low cross into the six-yard box, with the ball ricocheting off Renato Veiga before finding the back of the net.

The Spanish side responded brilliantly, though, and Dortmund had to survive a couple of chances from the visitors thanks to a block from Waldemar Anton and a good low save to his right from Gregor Kobel. However, the visitors did eventually equalise via a header from a corner by Santiago Mouriño with a quarter of the game remaining.

Dortmund wrestled back control of the game soon after and, on his 100th appearance in black and yellow, Serhou Guirassy poked home from close range at the back post from a pinpoint Fabio Silva cross.

Silva looked extremely lively after entering the field and forced yet another good save from Gulacsi. From the resulting corner, Guirassy was bundled over and the referee awarded a penalty and a chance for BVB to seal the game. The Guinean dispatched the resulting spot-kick, emulating his brace from this fixture last season in the process.

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses though, as Guirassy found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. After getting in the way of a punch from Kobel, the ball found its way into the net to reduce the deficit to just one in stoppage time.

Hearts were in mouths as Villarreal threw caution to the wind with seconds to go, but Dortmund managed to see out the win.

After a ropey first half, Dortmund came out deserved winners after a strong second half. A fourth straight win to kick off the season is about as good as Kovač could’ve hoped for. BVB now turn their attention to the weekend when they host Paderborn in the Bundesliga.

Player Ratings

Borussia Dortmund:

Gregor Kobel (7) – Joane Gadou (6), Waldemar Anton (6), Daniel Svensson (6) – Julian Ryerson (6), Joey Veerman (6), Felix Nmecha (6), Marcel Sabitzer (7)– Konstantinos Karetsas (-), Maximilian Beier (7) – Serhou Guirassy (8)

Others: Ethan Nwaneri (7), Jobe Bellingham (6), Fabio Silva (8), Kauã Prates (-), Carney Chukwuekmeka (-)

GGFN Player of the Match | Fabio Silva (8)

The Portuguese made a real difference for BVB after coming on. Silva attacked with purpose and was unlucky not to come away with a goal for himself. An assist will have to do.

GGFN | Harry Good