Borussia Dortmund missed the opportunity to put themselves in a good position in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 against Juventus Turin and are now under a lot of pressure to win the return match. The team, currently placed twelfth in the Bundesliga, lost the away game 2-1. Marco Reus scored the all-important away goal for BVB but they still need to win at least 1-0 at home in the return leg in two weeks time to make it through to the quarter finals. Carlos Tevez gave the hosts an early lead before Alvaro Morata, after Reus’ equaliser, scored the winning goal towards the end of the first half.
Manager Jürgen Klopp wasn’t completely dissatisfied despite the defeat: “To come away from Turin with a result that means we only need to win 1-0 at home to qualify – what more could you want?” Roman Weidenfeller had a similar point of view: "We can live with that result. If we had made more of a couple of our chances going forward, we could have been in it much more. All in all, it was a pretty even game in which both sides had chances.”
Klopp was without winter signing Kevin Kampl for the clash against the Italian table toppers so Henrikh Mkhitaryan came in to the starting line-up and played out on the wing. Ciro Immobile was given the nod to start up front against his former club while Aubameyang dropped in to midfield. Mats Hummels returned to central defence in place of Neven Subotic. Former Leverkusen player Arturo Vidal featured in the host’s starting line-up.
Bad luck with injuries for both teams
In front of 41,182 fans at the Juventus Stadium BVB started brightly with some good attacking moves but their defence was vulnerable and they fell behind in the 13th minute following a chain of errors. Morata advanced unchallenged before shooting from a tight angle. BVB keeper Roman Weidenfeller spilled the seemingly harmless shot into the path of Carlos Tevez who stabbed home to make it 1-0.
The guests quickly recovered as Reus capitalised on a Chiellini error. The Italian slipped allowing Reus acres of space to race in on goal. He fired past Juve keeper Buffon to make it 1-1 (18’).
Just before the break, the Dortmund back four failed to deal with their opponents. Alvaro Morata timed his run perfectly to meet Pogba’s cross for a simple, unchallenged, tap-in (42’).
Both coaches were forced into changes before the goal. BVB’s right back Lukasz Piszczek had to leave the pitch and was replaced by Matthias Ginter. Shortly after the break, there was another injury problem for Klopp. Sokratis was unable to continue so Oliver Kirch came off the bench. Juventus playmaker Andrea Pirlo was injured in the first half so Pereyra came on in his place.
Borussia Dortmund missed the opportunity to put themselves in a good position in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 against Juventus Turin and are now under a lot of pressure to win the return match. The team, currently placed twelfth in the Bundesliga, lost the away game 2-1. Marco Reus scored the all-important away goal for BVB but they still need to win at least 1-0 at home in the return leg in two weeks time to make it through to the quarter finals. Carlos Tevez gave the hosts an early lead before Alvaro Morata, after Reus’ equaliser, scored the winning goal towards the end of the first half.
Manager Jürgen Klopp wasn’t completely dissatisfied despite the defeat: “To come away from Turin with a result that means we only need to win 1-0 at home to qualify – what more could you want?” Roman Weidenfeller had a similar point of view: "We can live with that result. If we had made more of a couple of our chances going forward, we could have been in it much more. All in all, it was a pretty even game in which both sides had chances.”
Klopp was without winter signing Kevin Kampl for the clash against the Italian table toppers so Henrikh Mkhitaryan came in to the starting line-up and played out on the wing. Ciro Immobile was given the nod to start up front against his former club while Aubameyang dropped in to midfield. Mats Hummels returned to central defence in place of Neven Subotic. Former Leverkusen player Arturo Vidal featured in the host’s starting line-up.
Bad luck with injuries for both teams
In front of 41,182 fans at the Juventus Stadium BVB started brightly with some good attacking moves but their defence was vulnerable and they fell behind in the 13th minute following a chain of errors. Morata advanced unchallenged before shooting from a tight angle. BVB keeper Roman Weidenfeller spilled the seemingly harmless shot into the path of Carlos Tevez who stabbed home to make it 1-0.
The guests quickly recovered as Reus capitalised on a Chiellini error. The Italian slipped allowing Reus acres of space to race in on goal. He fired past Juve keeper Buffon to make it 1-1 (18’).
Just before the break, the Dortmund back four failed to deal with their opponents. Alvaro Morata timed his run perfectly to meet Pogba’s cross for a simple, unchallenged, tap-in (42’).
Both coaches were forced into changes before the goal. BVB’s right back Lukasz Piszczek had to leave the pitch and was replaced by Matthias Ginter. Shortly after the break, there was another injury problem for Klopp. Sokratis was unable to continue so Oliver Kirch came off the bench. Juventus playmaker Andrea Pirlo was injured in the first half so Pereyra came on in his place.
Juve miss opportunity to put qualification out of BVB’s reach
After the break, the fans created an amazing atmosphere and were rewarded with the end-to-end game that their manager promised. Borussia posed a constant goal threat but lacked composure and couldn't find that finishing touch.
As promising as Borussia were in attack, they were unable to deal confidently with some dangerous Juve attacks. Tevez (77’) and substitute Roberto Pereyra (86’) both missed great chances to settle the tie and put qualification out of BVB’s reach. In the closing stages, Dortmund turned their attention to defending in order to avoid coming away with a bigger deficit.
