U19 lose Youth League opener despite leading twice | OneFootball

Personnel

Injuries and illnesses had forced Felix Hirschnagl into a selection puzzle. Top scorer Bjarki Gardarsson was absent due to a persistent illness, while Marwan Mirza suffered a ligament injury in the final training session. In addition, Enzo Duarte dos Santos and Mussa Kaba, who had initially been firmly planned in for the Youth League, are still unavailable.

With goalkeeper Aaron Held and defender Tim Degener, two of the five permitted overage players strengthened the starting lineup, which also saw the return of Jan-Luca Riedl, Luke Fahrenhorst and Fadi Zarqelain (all most recently with the U23s). The squad was rounded out by U17 players Niclas Goldberg, Hamzath Mohamadou and Georgio Zisopoulos.

Match proceedings

The Black and Yellows started dominantly and put the defensively compact visitors under pressure with a high press and strong tackling. The first shot came from Tim Degener. However, his effort from 16 meters caused no real problems for Villarreal goalkeeper Pablo Polo (11th minute). The very lively Justin Hoy tried his luck shortly afterwards from the left, but without success. The same happened in the 34th minute, when after a combination involving Fahrenhorst and Degener he was denied by Polo, and Ahmad Najdi was unable to make use of the rebound. Hoy rewarded his presence and willingness to run in the 39th minute with the opening goal. After rounding his marker, he fired the ball into the net from a tight angle.

The Black and Yellow celebrations had barely died down when the Spaniards, who had managed only a few attacking moves up to that point, responded with the equalizer. After Dortmund lost the ball in midfield, they quickly combined their way toward the BVB penalty area. The unmarked Gonzales Garcia had no trouble turning in teammate Guillamon’s square pass for 1-1 – a fortunate halftime scoreline for Villarreal.

The Borussen remained on the front foot after the restart and continued to dictate play. In the 53rd minute, they celebrated Jan-Luca Riedl, who scored a dream goal with a long-range shot from the right half-space into the top-left corner. But once again, the joy did not last long. In the 68th minute, Villarreal punished their opponents’ slack defending with another equalizer: Sergio Barrera headed Mauro Roca’s cross into the net.

Five minutes later, the visitors completed the turnaround. Aaron Held saved a shot from substitute Rodriguez, but the ball fell unfortunately at Niklas König’s feet and then trickled over the line. Led by Justin Hoy and with fresh personnel in several positions, the young Borussen pushed for an equalizer. Villarreal defended compactly against attacks that were at times too predictable. Till Burkhardt squandered the final chance after a cross from Kevin Vogt (82’) – and BVB are already under pressure to get results in the next two away matches if they do not want to lose sight of their ambitious goals.

Reaction

Felix Hirschnagl: “This is a painful defeat. We score two goals in phases when we deserved them and worked for them. But I’m missing the hunger to want more when we have the opponent on the ropes. Instead of going into the break 1-0 up or making it 3-1, we concede avoidable goals. That’s something I can’t understand, and it hurts.”

Outlook

On Sunday, BVB will conclude the first half of preliminary group H in the DFB Youth League with an away game at Fortuna Düsseldorf (kick-off 11 a.m. at the Paul-Janes-Stadion). The Black and Yellows will play their next UEFA Youth League match on Wednesday, 14 October, away to Bodø/Glimt.

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