A misunderstanding between Marc Bartra and goalkeeper Roman Bürki saw Sporting awarded an indirect free kick in the Dortmund penalty area, on account of the backpass rule. The dead ball was laid off to Cesar, who struck it with great power through the Dortmund wall to get his side back in the game. Dost came close again a few minutes later with a header.
Christian Pulisic’s shot from distance connected with the bar in the 78th minute, while at the other end, Joel Campbell was centimetres away from bringing the hosts back level in the 83rd minute.
Borussia Dortmund took a major step towards marking their place in the Champions League round of 16 as they beat Sporting Lisbon 2-1 away from home. Thomas Tuchel’s side deserved their victory, which has put them four points clear of the third-place sitting Portuguese side. They took the lead in the 9th minute through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and, scoring his first goal for Borussia Dortmund, Julian Weigl on the storke of half time. Bruno César grabbed a goal back for the hosts in the 67th minute.
Tuchel opted for an attacking 4-1-4-1 setup in the Estádio José Alvalade, with Shinji Kagawa starting ahead of the more defensive Sebastian Rode. Like the hosts, BVB went for the win from the very start of the game, making for an exciting encounter. Sporting had the better of the early stages, but it was Dortmund who took the lead through Aubameyang, after he was sent through on goal by World Champion Mario Götze, going on to round Rui Patricio and stick the ball in the empty net. It was Aubameyang’s third goal in the competition this season.
Security after taking the lead
The visitors looked more confident and settled after going ahead, their play becoming a lot more fluid and their combinations running smoother. Christian Pulisic should have doubled their lead in the 23rd minute but was unable to do so.
Sporting, on a run of nine consecutive home wins, caused the German side a lot of problems. Former Wolfsburg man Bas Dost came close with a header in the 29th minute, and it took some excellent defending from Felix Passlack to keep his side ahead three minutes later.
That being said, Dortmund remained the better sides. Aubameyang almost added his tenth goal of the season with a 34th minute header, which he followed with another couple of near misses over the next few minutes. Two minutes before the break, Weigl stole the ball in the Sporting defensive third and unleashed a fierce shot from around 20 yards away, putting his side two goals to the good.
Sporting fight back
Despite being two goals behind, the hosts came back strongly in the second half, while Dortmund became somewhat passive and less secure on the ball. BVB fixed themselves up a little more after the hour mark.
A misunderstanding between Marc Bartra and goalkeeper Roman Bürki saw Sporting awarded an indirect free kick in the Dortmund penalty area, on account of the backpass rule. The dead ball was laid off to Cesar, who struck it with great power through the Dortmund wall to get his side back in the game. Dost came close again a few minutes later with a header.
Christian Pulisic’s shot from distance connected with the bar in the 78th minute, while at the other end, Joel Campbell was centimetres away from bringing the hosts back level in the 83rd minute.
