Dortmund net four to make light work of Athletic Club

BVB secured victory with a 4-1 thrashing of Athletic Club to claim their first victory in the league phase of the Champions League.

Borussia Dortmund welcomed back Champions League nights at the Westfalenstadion with a 4-1 against Athletic Club this evening. Nico Kovač’s side looked dominant until a goal out of the blue for Bilbao put the hosts under pressure until late goals from Serhou Guirassy and Julian Brandt secured victory. 

Neither side managed to inflict their dominance on the occasion inside the initial 10 minutes. BVB were clearly intent on targeting the right flank as Julian Ryerson and Karim Adeyemi started to string some passes together albeit their cutting edge was missing at that point in time. 

It required almost 20 minutes of first-half action to elapse before the first shot on target arrived. Ryerson found Adeyemi to tee up Marcel Sabitzer who fired down the throat of Unai Simon who. At the other end, Roberto Navarro headed well wide for Athletic Club on a rare foray up-field. 

Eventually, the Basque resistance caved in as BVB constructed a 1-0 lead inside 28 minutes. The right flank continued to reap rewards and it paid off handsomely when Ryerson crossed to the back post for Daniel Svensson. The Swedish wing-back had just enough power on his shot to beat the scrambling Simon.

Niklas Süle, making his first start since recovering from injury, had two bites of the cherry of which one stung Simon’s palms while the other effort fizzed wide. Aside from a set-piece whipped in that caused havoc, that’s how it remained as Niko Kovač’s side took a slender lead into the break. 

Athletic Club coach Ernesto Valverde made a triple alteration to start the second-half with Laporte, Areso and Ruiz de Galarreta introduced. However, it was all in vain as BVB extended their lead inside five minutes. Serhou Guirassy unselfishly slipped it to Carney Chukwuemeka to squeeze his shot inside the left post. 

Gregor Kobel was eventually tested by Maroan as the visitors found their range but to no avail. Nonetheless, Athletic Club were gifted a goal on the hour – Süle and Anton got their lines crossed as they tried to clear while Gorka Guruzeta nipped in to plunge the ball into the lower right corner beyond Kobel who stood no chance. 

Navarro thought he equalised minutes later however a VAR review showed the full-back was clearly offside. Kovač attempted to regain control by introducing Nico Schlotterbeck and Felix Nmecha. Fellow substitute Julian Brandt could hardly watch as Simon spectacularly flicked his close range effort over the bar. 

However, fortune finally favoured BVB with eight minutes remaining. Marcel Sabitzer’s effort on goal took a hefty ricochet off Guirassy’s shin, wrong-footing the Spanish goalkeeper. The scoreboard suddenly read 4-1 in injury time as Bilbao surrendered possession cheaply which allowed Brandt to thump home at the near post.