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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Borussia Dortmund will resume after Christmas in the Champions League. Their home game against Galatasaray finished 4-1 (1-0) with BVB never in any danger of losing, thus qualifying ahead of their next game against Arsenal (now on nine points) for the next round with a remarkable 13-1 goal difference.
As reports “Armenpress” citing the official website of the club, watched by another ‘sell out’ 65,581 crowd, Marco Reus gave the hosts the lead with six minutes of the first half remaining. Eleven minutes into the second half Sokratis converted from a free-kick to give BVB a decent cushion but a surprising goal from Hakan Balta on 70 minutes raised a few questions which BVB were able to answer courtesy of two goals from Ciro Immobile (74th and 86th minute) to secure the game. A poor moment for the game in general: Galatasaray fans threw a firework onto the pitch just before BVB took the corner that led to the second goal. The game was held up for some three minutes.
BVB were looking to secure their fourth consecutive win in Group D. A win was also thought to be a way for the team to regain confidence for a team that has had such a miserable Bundesliga which resumes on Sunday with the game against Gladbach. The record breaking Turkish Champions arrived very much in the last chance saloon. They needed a win to retain any chance of staying in the competition.
BVB started with the same eleven that started the second half in Munich at the weekend. Subotic replaced Hummels whilst for the visitors Galatasaray coach Prandelli made six changes from the side that won against Kasimpasa (2-1) with Hakan Balta, Tarik, Felipe Melo, Dzemaili, Sneijder and Umut replacing Sabri, Alex Telles, Yekta Kurtulus, Olcan, Burak and Emre Colak.
Whilst Borussia started with the same personnel as they had on the field at the start of the second half in Munich, they did line up in the regular 4-2-3-1 formation. Aubameyang, just as in Istanbul, was the man up front. The visitors opted for a system that was very hard to fathom. With Selcuk Inan, supposedly in the holding role, popping up here, there and everywhere, nominally, the Turkish side seemed to be using a highly flexible 4-1-3-1-1 formation. Sneijder played in the hole behind the striker in a system that seemed designed to restrict BVB any room down the flanks.
BVB dominated from the start and enjoying a huge advantage in possession (75% after fifteen minutes) looked to rebuild their confidence. That said, Galatasaray had the first real chance when Sneijder tried his luck with an overhead kick which Weidenfeller snaffled comfortably on the quarter hour mark. Ten minutes later BVB fans had to stifle their cheers when Sokratis’ header thundered back of the crossbar following a Reus corner.
BVB seemed to draw inspiration from this moment as they now sought to get on the front foot. Kagawa, benefitting from a nice back-heel from Mkhitaryan, had a go on 33 minutes then three minutes later Subotic, from another Reus corner, flashed an effort wide. The opening goal did, however, arrive before half-time when Marco Reus shovelled a Piszczek through ball beneath the body of Muslera to make it 1-0 on 39 minutes.
The first half statistics highlighted the fact that the lead was deserved. Borussia were the brighter side registering three chances and forcing seven strikes on goal. Possession stats showed a 62% dominance from the home side whilst 55% of all tackles went the way of the home side.
The second half started similarly, although chances were now coming fast and furious. Sadly once again the game was stopped as fireworks were let off in the pen reserved for visiting fans; the delay again taking some three minutes before the referee, Pavel Kralovec, was able to re-start the game having assembled the teams on the halfway line as order was restored.
Upon resumption, the ‘on-pitch’ fireworks certainly kicked in. A Kagawa corner was pushed into the path of Sokratis in the box by Kehl, and the Greek steered home from six yards out. The two-goal lead against opponents who offered no real threat gave BVB the chance to make some changes with Gündogan replacing Kagawa on 63 minutes.
And then, out of nowhere, Galatasaray equalised when on 70 minutes Hakan Balta eluded Piszczek to convert a Sneijder corner to narrow the difference to just one goal. It was the first goal BVB had conceded since April when Cristiano Ronaldo scored the third goal in Real’s win in last season’s quarter final.
The goal did not derail the Black n Yellow machine and soon after that goal Immobile was on the end of a classic counter-attack to harden the grip on the three points. It was the striker’s third goal in three CL games. Then, having watched Aubameyang narrowly fail to nab a fourth, Immobile’s effort was steered into his own net by Semih to round of the scoring with four minutes remaining.