“When you fall down, you have to get back up again!” | OneFootball

To throw a 4-2 lead away, you first need to have one. For 94 minutes in Turin on Tuesday evening, Borussia Dortmund got significantly more right than they did wrong. “You can divide the match into two parts – the first 94 minutes and the last two minutes,” said Kovac at the press conference, before adding: “I know that my team produced a great performance. They controlled the game in the first period and while they didn't create anything themselves, they didn't give anything away either. Eight goals in the second half is a lot, but the way in which we created the goals and the way that we played today here in Italy, in Turin, against a really fantastic team shows that my boys gave it their all. And I'm really extremely satisfied with the performance. I've seen a lot of good things which I'll take away with me and which I won't let anyone take away from me.”

A game that had been controlled between the two teams then became anything but once Karim Adeyemi made it 1-0 in the 52nd minute. The first of four long-range goals in total kicked off a high-scoring thriller that you really do not expect to take place in the land of Catenaccio. Juve levelled quickly twice, but Borussia hit back twice, making it 2-1 through Felix Nmecha in the 65th minute and 3-2 via Yan Couto in the 74th minute. When Ramy Bensebaini coolly converted a spot-kick awarded for handball to make it 4-2 to Borussia Dortmund with four minutes of normal time remaining, the game looked over.

The match had entered the fourth of the six additional minutes when an incident took place that kicker described in their ticker as follows: “Juve exploit Bensebaini's mistake. The left-footer wants to kick the ball against his opponent but plays it straight to Kalulu. His cross is bundled into the net by Vlahovic with the tip of his toes and the help of the inside of the right upright from around six metres out.” Once they had conceded the goal for 4-3, the team completely lost their way. “At this level, you cannot make any mistakes,” Kovac explained to Prime after the final whistle, adding: “You can point the finger at Ramy, but we will not do that.”

The incident that led to the goal for 4-3 and the subsequent system collapse was discussed in controversial fashion. While Kovac did not bemoan personal but rather general wrongdoing in his analysis (“It is not without reason that I say there is a no-play zone at the back”) and called for keeper Gregor Kobel to play “more mature football”, World Cup winners Christoph Kramer and Mats Hummels discussed the situation differently during their analysis for broadcaster Prime. Both emphatically argued that even in such situations, it is necessary to look for creative solutions in order to avoid coming under constant pressure, “if you are just constantly kicking the ball forwards.”

Kovac, however, declared: “Especially when the game goes to extra time, the ball shouldn't really be in play anymore. We have to draw fouls, we have to go into the corner. Even for the fourth goal we conceded, we were back in the opposition half but we lost the ball there too quickly. Nothing more should happen there!”

And that is how Borussia Dortmund have one point on the board after the first matchday of the league phase. What that point is ultimately worth will only become clear at the end of January. Sporting director Sebastian Kehl said of the 4-4 draw: “In the end, it is something that will help us achieve our objectives.”Boris Rupert