Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Atletico Madrid
Lucien Favre’s Borussia Dortmund produced the Champions League result of the round with a resounding 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid.
The Bundesliga leaders are on fire at the moment, but this result was all the more remarkable when you consider it was against arguably the best defence in Europe. A first-half strike from Axel Witsel was followed up in the second period by a goal from Jadon Sancho and a brace from Raphael Guerreiro as BVB ran riot.
They don’t quite have Group A qualification in the bag, but both these teams came into the game knowing that in Thierry Henry’s first European game as Monaco coach, his team was pegged back by Club Brugge to give BVB and Atleti a five-point cushion before they kicked off.
Champions League 2018 betting odds had the hosts as marginal favourites to win this, but wow, did they deliver?!
Highlights of the game
In the opening exchanges, it was Atletico who had the first attempt on goal when Juanfran found Antoine Griezmann, only for the French striker to see his first-time effort denied. And just on the quarter hour, Dortmund’s Jacob Bruun Larsen teed up Achraf Hakimi and his shot, too, was charged down.
Jan Oblak was the first keeper to be called into action when Hakimi passed to Witsel who shot towards the bottom corner. The Atleti shot-stopper, though, was equal to it.
Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic fired his effort over and then Griezmann came close for Atleti, but his effort fizzed past the right-hand post. Lucien Favre had to make an enforced change, on 35 minutes, when midfielder Thomas Delaney limped off. Three minutes after he was replaced by Mahmoud Dahoud, however, the hosts broke the deadlock.
Hakimi found Witsel again, and this time the summer recruit found the bottom corner with a sweetly hit shot and the Yellow Wall erupted.
Dortmund hit Monaco with a second-half blitz in their last Champions League foray, and Diego Simeone had the dual task of masterminding a comeback while keeping his defence watertight to avoid further leakage.
Atleti came out on the front foot with the first real effort of the second half, with Diego Godin getting on the end of a corner to set up Saul Niguez who shot narrowly wide. Shortly after, Thomas Lemar gave Niguez another opening and, this time, his low effort was saved by Roman Burki.
Diego Costa also had his header blocked.
Niguez again came close with a header, but the hosts weathered the storm and had their own foray into attack with Reus and Witsel combining well before the scorer’s shot was charged down.
Before Atletico could restart its offensive, Dortmund made it 2-0. Hakimi was again the provider and Guerreiro the beneficiary as he fired low into the bottom right corner.
The last thing Atleti wanted to see now was the arrival of Sancho, on 79 minutes. And they really wished they hadn’t seen him when he was on the end of another assist from the excellent Hakimi to stab home the third.
While pundits and fans around Europe were rubbing their eyes at the ‘3’ against Atleti’s defence, there was still time for another goal—Guerreiro slotting home his second in the 89th minute.
What a performance!
Key statistics
Today’s Group A Champions League 2018 results mean Dortmund have one foot in the knockout stages. This was an amazing win against a quality side.
Favre’s team edged the first half with 65 percent possession and six shots to three, gathering some momentum as the break approached. While the visitors turned it around to dominate possession and win the overall shot count 13 to 11, BVB weathered the Atleti storm and then tore them apart.
BVB have now won seven games on the run, in all competitions, and are unbeaten in 11. Meanwhile, Simeone’s men have just surrendered their own eight-match unbeaten streak.
What’s next?
There’s plenty more SBOBET football on the way with Europe’s best domestic leagues back on at the weekend.
Favre’s team has torn Bundesliga defences apart since the start of the season, notably Nurnberg who took a 7-0 beating. And it’s back to business when Hertha Berlin are the next visitors to the Signal Iduna Park, a team with a three-match unbeaten run to protect. The league leaders will test that to the full.
Atletico Madrid, despite being in fifth place in La Liga, are just two points off the top and will hope to keep up the pressure at the weekend when Real Sociedad come to town.
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