Match Report
Borussia Dortmund celebrate glorious 7-1 win against Celtic
Report by Boris Rupert
Borussia Dortmund played like an unleashed force of nature as 81,365 spectators looked on in a sold-out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. Emre Can opened the floodgates with a converted penalty (7), and Serhou Guirassy also scored from the spot (40), not to mention the three goals by Karim Adeyemi (11/29/42). This was the second time that BVB had scored five goals in a single half in a Champions League game. Daizen Maeda equalised in the ninth minute to make the score temporarily 1-1. Guirassy and Nmecha netted in the 66th and 79th minutes respectively to make the score 7-1 at full time.
The scenario:
Both teams had decisively won their opening games: BVB with a 3-0 win in Bruges, Celtic with a 5-1 win against Bratislava. The Black & Yellows were unbeaten in their last 11 home games in the UEFA Champions League (seven wins, four draws). Celtic had lost the last five away games in the competition. However, their last loss in a competitive game was on 3 March - since then, only the team's rivals Rangers had managed to squeeze a draw out of them (3-3), and otherwise Celtic had stacked up 25 (!) wins.
Personnel matters:
Borussia started with exactly the same line-up as they had four days ago in the league game against VfL Bochum, when they won 4-2. Giovanni Reyna was not able to play (training deficit), and neither was Donyell Malen due to illness. Marcel Sabitzer was fit again and was on the bench at the start of the game.
Tactics:
BVB started in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the full-backs then pressing high up front, while Can frequently dropped back between the centre-backs, allowing Borussia to then build momentum in a 3-3-4 formation. Celtic used a 4-3-3 system, and were largely focused on the attack, leaving a lot of green space behind them for the Black & Yellows, who used this space to their hearts' content.
The match & analysis:
Dortmund already had a lot of space in the first phase of the game, which also included a frightening moment: Can got stuck in the turf while making a clearance. Once the captain was back on the pitch, Adeyemi drove the ball forwards, but should have passed to Brandt on the right rather than to Guirassy on the left. The ball was cleared by one of the Celtic defenders (4). Shortly afterwards, Gittens played an unintentional one-two with McGregor and, thinking on his feet, took the ball which was intended as a back-pass, stormed towards the goal and was taken out by keeper Schmeichel. As always, Can scored the resulting penalty with ease (7).
But just two minutes later it was 1-1. Engels got past Ryerson on the right wing, crossed it into the centre, Can tried to clear in the six-yard box but Maeda managed to get to it and the ball slipped into the net. Once the ball was back in play and was passed back to Kobel, Dortmund pressed forward again: Guirassy held up the goalkeeper's long ball and passed it on to Brandt, who passed perfectly into the path of Adeyemi who, under pressure from two Scots, took a shot from around 14 metres out. With a slight deflection, the ball landed in the net to make the score 2-1.
Borussia, who were playing a fast and straightforward attacking game, could have easily added to their lead, but Schmeichel defended well against the third and fourth shots that came at him, first from Gittens (16) and then from Guirassy (23). Adeyemi, who was having a brilliant game, added a brilliant goal to the scoreline. After a corner that wasn't properly cleared, he got hold of the ball on the left corner of the opponents' penalty box, gave it a touch to put it further ahead of him, and fired it into the net from a tight angle to make the score 3-1 (29). Five minutes later it was Adeyemi again, once again from a distance, but this time just missing the bottom right corner. Groß also had an attempt from distance, but it was blocked by Schmeichel (37).
It was a fantastic game of football that had the fans leaping out of their seats. Engels kicked Adeyemi in the foot and Sánchez gave a penalty for the second time. This time Guirassy stepped up to take it, Schmeichel sensed that it was headed for the (from his perspective) right corner, but couldn't block the forceful and well-placed shot (40). Two minutes later, it seemed as though an attack by Dortmund had been cleared, but the ball rebounded off Maeda's foot in front of the Celtic box, and Adeyemi "thanked" him with a low shot into the right corner, bringing the score to 5-1 at half time.
The second half also began with a frightening moment, but this time it didn't end so well: during a battle to head the ball, Adeyemi clutched his right hamstring and had to leave the pitch, shaking his head in disappointment (47). He was replaced by Duranville, whose shot on goal following a long ball from Ryerson Schmeichel just about managed to turn onto the post (58).
An hour into the game, three more substitutions were made (Bensebaini, Nmecha and Beier for Couto, Groß and Brandt), and shortly after that Borussia made it half a dozen: Schlotterbeck intercepted a pass from a Celtic player deep in the opponents' half, passed to Guirassy, who saw off Scales with a body feint and scored from four metres out to make it 6-1 (66). Shortly afterwards, the double goal scorer was replaced by Sabitzer; Beier moved up front. Duranville tried to get the ball to the new man in central attack in the 79th minute, but before he could take the shot, a Scotsman had gotten between him and the goal. When the ball rebounded though, Nmecha fired it into the net.
After that, the tempo noticeably slowed down in a second half that overall was not as fast as the first - apart from a run by Duranville from his own half. Schmeichel blocked the shot, and Gittens was unable to get the rebounding ball under control (83).
Outlook:
For BVB, the competition continues on 22 October with an away game to Real Madrid. Before the international break there will be another Bundesliga game: this Saturday (15:30 CEST) at Union Berlin.
Teams & goals
UEFA Champions League Matchday 2
BORUSSIA DORTMUND 7-1 (5-1) CELTIC
Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Couto (Bensebaini, 61), Anton, Schlotterbeck, Ryerson – Can, Groß (Nmecha, 61) – Adeyemi (Duranville, 48), Brandt (Beier, 61), Gittens – Guirassy (Sabitzer, 70)
Celtic: Schmeichel – Johnston (Ralston, 86), Trusty, Scales, Taylor (Valle, 46) – McGregor – Engels, Bernardo (Hatate, 46) – Kühn (Yang, 63), Furuhashi (Idah, 63), Maeda
Substitutes: Meyer, Lotka, Süle, Azhil – Bain, Sinisalo, Nawrocki, Welsh, Forrest, McCowan, Palma
Goals: 1-0 Can (penalty, foul by Schmeichel on Gittens, 7), 1-1 Maeda (Engels, 9), 2-1 Adeyemi (Brandt, 11), 3-1 Adeyemi (Schlotterbeck, 29), 4-1 Guirassy (penalty, foul by Engels on Adeyemi, 40), 5-1 Adeyemi (42), 6-1 Guirassy (Schlotterbeck, 66), 7-1 Nmecha (Duranville, 79)
Corners: 8-4 (Half time 6-2), Chances: 12-3 (8-1)
Referees: Sanchez Martinez (Spain), yellow Cards: Groß, Bensebaini – Schmeichel, Hatate
Spectators: 81,365 (sold out), weather: dry, 11 degrees Celsius