CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLAYER RATINGS | Juventus 4-4 Borussia Dortmund | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund kicked off their Champions League campaign against Juventus. The last time the two teams met was in the round of 16 of the 2014/15 edition, and the time before that was the 1997 final, which Dortmund won.

The first half was all Juventus; the Italian side were the dominant side on the attacking front, but a credit to Dortmund due to the fact that Juventus were not able to create any meaningful chances to truly trouble Gregor Kobel. However, the visitors struggled on the attacking front, only being able to register two shots on target.

To sum up the second half, ‘sprung into life’ would be an understatement for what happened with this game.

Against the run of play, Karim Adeyemi gave Dortmund the lead to score his first goal of the season. 12 minutes later, Regensburg-born and former Bayern Munich academy graduate Kenan Yildiz scored the equaliser for the Turin side with a long-range effort. Barely one minute later, Dortmund would then take the lead again from Felix Nmecha, who himself scored from just outside the box. Yildiz would then turn provider two minutes later as his threaded pass played in substitute Dusan Vlahovic, who made it 2-2.

Yan Couto would then get into the action with his first goal of his Dortmund career as his effort beat Michele di Gregorio at his near post. It then looked as if die Schwarzgelben had sealed it with a Ramy Benseabini penalty, not without a brief tiff with Serhou Guirassy, to make it 4-2.

However, Dortmund would do the most Dortmund thing possible as they threw away their two-goal lead within the six added minutes. Vlahovic would get his second of the game to make it 4-3, before Lloyd Kelly’s late win rescued a point for the hosts.

Die Schwarzgelben would have been happy with their performance for the majority of the game. In the first half, they showed defensive solidity to hold off and nullify Juventus. Then in the second half, they again showed a mentality to come take the lead two more times. However, the fact that Dortmund would go on to throw away the game undoes all their work in the game.

The learning point from the game is that it is better for BVB to throw away the lead in their opening game than in the latter stages of the competition or in the league (they have done this already). The positive to take away from this is that Dortmund are getting better under Niko Kovac, but there are still the usual Echte Liebe qualities embedded in this team.

Dortmund’s next game in the Champions League is at home to Athletic Club.

Borussia Dortmund:

Gregor Kobel (6), Yan Couto (6), Julian Ryerson (5), Waldemar Anton (5), Ramy Bensebaini (5), Daniel Svensson (5), Marcel Sabitzer (5), Felix Nmecha (6), Maxi Beier (5), Sehrou Guirassy (6), Karim Adeyemi (7)

Others: Julian Brandt (5), Jobe Bellingham (5), Pascal Groß (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Karim Adeyemi (7)

The overall man of the match is Kenan Yildiz, the Regensburg-born forward, who ended with a goal and assist and created the most chances in the game, via FotMob, but this is Dortmund-focused.

Adeyemi has been lively in BVB’s opening games of the season, but the goal has eluded him. In the end-to-end nature of this game, Adeyemi thrived in using his speed to cause chaos.

The 23-year-old has solidified himself as one of Guirassy’s main strike partners.

GGFN | Jack Meenan