Dortmund roll over Sevilla to get a comfortable gap in their group
BVB put the last nail in Julen Lopetegui's coffin with a very solid performance and a 1-4 win.
| Raphael Guerreiro. |
One of the most beautiful anthems in world football sung by more than 70 thousand hearts made that not even one chord of the Champions League anthem could be heard.
The game started with the intensity level required by both teams in clashes of this magnitude.
Dortmund faced a different press from Sevilla than expected, as En-Nesyri was staying with Emre Can, denying the German from being the first option on the build-up.
Meanwhile, Suso and Isco jumped to press Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Süle and the rest of Sevilla’s men paired up with their Black and Yellow counterparts in their 5-3-1-2 defensive scheme.
Edin Terzic surprised everyone by electing to add Emre Can to the midfield, completing a 4-3-3 with Julian Brandt starting on the left but with freedom to roam in the attacking space.
The first exciting moment of the game came not long after the start with an amazing drive forward by Adeyemi that cost Gudejl a yellow card. Süle had a good chance from that free kick.
From that point on Jude Bellingham started his show.
The English midfielder was great, whenever he touches the ball everything gets better in Dortmund's game.
Bellingham produced an amazing assist for Guerreiro's surprise run, with the Portuguese left-back putting Dortmund ahead with a golazo with an amazing left-foot strike in the 6th minute.
Dortmund continued the first half sitting in a middle to low block, with Moukoko as the only forward on the low press 4-5-1.
Sevilla fans tried to inject energy into their team, but the chants were returned by Dortmund's.
Then came an amazing double save from Alexander Meyer, who continues to reaffirm his argument of being the starting keeper, after a great build-up play by Jordan and En-Nesyri where the striker failed to bring it home.
The play came after an awful loss by Can, who received the ball in his own third and was too slow passing it and was pressed by the Moroccan foward.
BVB showed a great level of intensity throughout the first half, with Brandt constantly searching for spaces.
Sevilla started to dominate and Isco had a header after a cross from Suso, En-Nesyri had a second one from Telles.
At this point, Dortmund were struggling with the defensive balance.
Everything seemed to be fixed after a great counterattack from Dortmund out of pure heart that got cut by En-Nesyri, but the VAR overturned the red card shown to Sevilla's striker due to a previous foul.
Dortmund's next chance was a beauty from Brandt who sent a through ball for Moukoko who then found Adeyemi, but the forward struggled with his first touch and then crossed and couldn't find a clear chance.
Julian Brandt started to shape one of his best matches of the season, helping Bellingham to give sense and direction to the BVB’s attacks.
Once again the flanks, an amazing stop from Meyer to block an En-Nesyri header and save Dortmund from the tie.
Dortmund dodged a bullet from the corner, Sevilla's youngster Salas shot all by himself in the 6-yard box and sent it too high.
The chain of plays returned life to the home squad for a short but intense moment.
But who else if not him, Bellingham hushed the Sánchez-Pizjuan after an incredible individual play to score from a pass by Özcan.
After just a brief moment, Karim Adeyemi scored the 0-3 goal that closed the match.
Moukoko made a beautiful control straight for the highlights, lobbing the ball over Gudejl before shooting, with the ball being blocked by Bono before Adeyemi pushed it in.
Sevilla's fans screamed against the directive board before and during halftime, the energy of the team is absolutely broken.
SFC made two substitutions during halftime, Montiel and Lamela in exchange for Suso and Jesús Navas.
Just opening the second half, Dortmund allow life to return to Los Hispalenses, as Sevilla's striker Yusuf En-Nesyri headed the ball in from a corner kick; another defensive distraction from the BVB this season.
The stadium got enchanted with the goal and started to scream for the recovery.
Moukoko put a bit of fear in the fans with a striker that went just high after a nice pass from Niklas Süle.
After the hour mark, Erik Lamela and Papu Gómez came to the field in substitution of Ivan Rakitic and Isco.
Julian Brandt kept building his amazing performance with some great dribbles.
Karim Adeyemi was taken off the pitch as Donyell Malen came in, Julian Brandt moved to the right side of the pitch to let Malen play on his preferred spot.
Meunier found Malen with a through pass that could have led to the 4th goal but the control by the Dutch wasn't good enough and his shot went wide.
Dortmund seemed to have put cruise control after the 60th minute, as Bellingham, Brandt and Ozcan controlled the pace of the match.
In the 74th minute Brandt received his reward. After a good bit of combination play between Malen, Bellingham, and Moukoko, the youngster sent a beautiful lobbed ball for Brandt to head with ease and put it into the net.
After the last nail in Sevilla's coffin, Terzic rested Moukoko and Guerreiro to give minutes to Modeste and Tom Rothe.
Alexander Meyer closed his great evening by denying Kasper Dolberg from a goal with the help of the post.
The travelling fans from the BVB started to celebrate a crucial victory for their side's hopes to advance to the round of 16.
All in all, it was an impressive match from a Dortmund side that will get a huge confident boost from this victory.