Dortmund missing ruthless edge in tense draw with AC Milan
After an opening day defeat to PSG, Dortmund welcomed AC Milan to the Westfalenstadion. The Italian giants came into the clash with a spate of injuries in midfield. Meanwhile, Terzic’s side hoped to take their recent domestic form of late into Europe. In the end, a nervy encounter would end 0-0 as both sides failed to find a decisive goal.
| Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0 |
In the second quarter Dortmund slowly started to purr. Malen’s 28th minute snapshot fizzed past a relieved Maignan’s left upright. The French shot-stopper was called into action moments later by Fullkrug who turned over possession and fired from range. Soon after, Julian Brandt narrowly cleared the crossbar with a spectacular bicycle kick effort. Although Rafael Leao caused havoc down the left on multiple occasions, it was Maignan busy once more keeping Bensebaini out from an acute angle before the break.
Former Borussen, Christian Pulisic, almost broke the deadlock after the break. The American swivelled but shot straight at Kobel. But the game would go into a lull as the hour mark approached. Tomori’s heroic block on Fullkrug was the closest either side came to a goal before the 74th minute.
While substitute Jamie Bynoe-Gittens added some much-needed impetus, Die Schwarzgelben couldn’t find that decisive goal. Milan’s bench had the greater impact in the end – Chukuweze denied by the imposing figure of Kobel who secured a point for BVB.
