U19 beaten in Youth League opener despite twice taking the lead | OneFootball

Personnel

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

Goalkeeper Aaron Held and defender Tim Degener were two of the five permitted over-age players to strengthen 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 report

The Black & 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, but his effort from 16 meters posed no major problems for Villarreal goalkeeper Pablo Polo (11'). Justin Hoy, once again very lively, tried his luck shortly afterwards from the left, but without success. The same happened in the 34th minute, when after a move involving Fahrenhorst and Degener, he was denied by Polo, and Ahmad Najdi was unable to convert the rebound. Hoy was rewarded for his presence and willingness to run in the 39th minute with the opening goal. After dribbling around his marker, he fired the ball into the net from a tight angle.

The Black & Yellow celebrations had barely died down when the Spaniards, who had created very little in attack up to that point, responded with the equaliser. After Dortmund lost the ball in midfield, they combined quickly toward the BVB penalty area. The unmarked Gonzales Garcia had no trouble tapping home 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, whose long-range strike from the right half-space flew into the top-left corner for a spectacular goal and a 2-1 lead. But once again, the joy did not last long. In the 68th minute, Villarreal punished their opponents’ sloppy defending with another equaliser: Sergio Barrera headed Mauro Roca’s cross into the net for 2-2.

Five minutes later, the visitors completed the turnaround. Aaron Held parried a shot from substitute Rodriguez, the ball bounced unfortunately into Niklas König’s path and then trickled over the line for 2-3. Led by Justin Hoy and with fresh personnel in several positions, the young Borussen pushed for an equaliser. Villarreal defended compactly against attacks that were at times too predictable. Till Burkhardt missed the final chance after a cross from Kevin Vogt (82') – and BVB now head into the next two away games already under pressure to get results if they are not to lose sight of their ambitious goals.

Reaction

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

Outlook

BVB will wrap up the first half of Preliminary Group H in the DFB Youth League on Sunday with an away match at Fortuna Düsseldorf (11 a.m. at the Paul Janes Stadium). The Black & Yellows’ next UEFA Youth League match will be on Wednesday, 14 October, away at Bodø/Glimt.

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