Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Chelsea (Adeyemi 63′)
SIGNAL IDUNA PARK — Despite Chelsea spending £320m-plus in a record-breaking January transfer window, it turns out it was not near enough.
For all the wealth of talented acquired, one position was overlooked. The No 10 role has plentiful suitors vying for a starting spot, there are flying wingers galore, but a unit that has left Todd Boehly short of £500m since his arrival on our shores still possesses Kai Havertz, hardly an old-school frontman, as their only central striker.
Creating chances was no problem in Dortmund, but scoring them is a different issue. The German side had two clear openings, and put one away in fine style to rock the Yellow Wall to its foundations.
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But for Chelsea, who have four goals in nine games in 2023, a very worrying trend is emerging. Leaving Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of their Champions League squad, even if he is a shadow of his former self, seemed like a risk at the time.
After another fruitless evening as Jude Bellingham-led Borussia Dortmund drew first blood in their last-16 tie – Chelsea’s last hope of a trophy this season – such a decision is looking like a very foolish move indeed.
No matter the result, Chelsea fans were in for a treat in one of the world’s great footballing cities. Supporters hooked up their flags around Alten Markt in the city early in the day and made the most of what could be their last European trip in a while, given their side’s unflattering Premier League position.
Dortmund itself is far from a tourist hotspot, with many other cities in the North Rhine-Westphalia region drawing the crowds. But while Cologne has its incredible gothic cathedral, Dusseldorf boasts Kraftwerk, Dortmund has football. The fact the national football museum is in the city, the one and only major pull for sightseers, is telling. Football, in this part of Germany, is life.
The sight of the famous Yellow Wall is worth the entrance fee alone. With no allocated seats, supporters in that section of the Signal Iduna Park get there early, two hours early, to take their spot in what is one of the last bastions of real terrace football watching. For millennials and younger, it is the closest you can get to what the Kop or the Stretford End was like in the 1970s.
The tifo game was strong on the Wall once again too, as supporters in the rest of the famous stadium took their seats, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other, like they were in a 80s punk band. Both were needed in an opening half hour with little to get excited about, even for the yellow purists.
Thiago Silva did have the ball in the net for Chelsea but was correctly ruled to have punched the ball into the net, before Joao Felix had two golden chances later in the opening period, blazing over from a fine position and then producing a thud from the crossbar after skinning Dortmund defender Marius Wolf alive.
Dortmund had been in fine fettle ahead of Chelsea’s visit having won six in a row in all competitions, but even Europe’s hottest property Bellingham, eyeing his fifth Champions League goal already this term, could not help the hosts create a single opening of note in the first half.
After the break, Enzo Fernandez tightened his grip on the match, controlling the tempo while keeping Chelsea on the front foot. Reece James won a free-kick after a marauding run early in the half, getting up to curl for goal only to be denied by a flying save from home goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
Kepa Arrizabalaga was then finally called into action down the other end, keeping Julian Brandt’s low drive out, but it remained all Chelsea, the net due to bulge at any moment.
Moments later, the deadlock was finally broken, but not for the team in the ascendancy. From yet another Chelsea corner, the hosts broke at blistering pace, with Karim Adeyemi finding himself one and one with Fernandez, who delayed at the crucial moment, allowing the Dortmund speedster to breeze past him, round Kepa and slot home.
The goal did not stem the flow of the encounter, with Kalidou Koulibaly’s half-saved effort cleared off the line, while Fernandez was denied by a stunning late stop from Kobel.
Crucially though, from 21 shots in total, eight on target, there were zero goals, as Dortmund earned a first win over English opposition since March 2016, in 11 attempts. Better get that chequebook out, Todd.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/WnirLjS
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