Post Match Reactions: BVB Snatch 1-0 Victory Against Sturm Graz
Yesterday at 09:00 AM
BVB's strong record in the Champions League continued.
There's no denying that Borussia Dortmund's season has gotten off to a bad start. The club's struggles away from home are unacceptable. However, the Westfalenstadion remains a fortress, and two wins in a matter of days at home have lowered the temperature among Dortmund fans, for the time being. Borussia Dortmund followed up their win against RB Leipzig with a tight but ultimately deserved win against Sturm Graz, the Austrian Bundesliga's new champions.
In some ways, this game was quite similar to the Leipzig match this weekend. BVB controlled the game and progressed the ball to the final third quite often, but struggled to generate clear-cut scoring chances out of that possession.
As you all know, Nuri Sahin loves the tactical quirk that involves having a central midfielder drop into the full-back role. Today, as he did against Wolfsburg and Leipzig, he cut out the proverbial middleman by playing Pascal Groß at right-back. While this is something that Groß did on a handful of occasions with Brighton, and he's probably the best option given BVB's injury troubles, it still poses a defensive vulnerability that Graz seemed keen to exploit, especially on the counterattack. Thankfully, Emre Can and even Maximilian Beier were able to cover for him when he was caught moving forward, and Graz were unable to capitalize.
As the minutes ticked away, Sturm Graz began to play with a bit more belief, applying more pressure, raising the height of their back line as they looked for a goal to break their Champions League woes. Unfortunately, in the 85th minute, they flew too close to the sun. While attempting to play out of the back, Graz center-back Emanuel Aiwu came under pressure from Maximilian Beier and, instead of playing it smart and launching it into the stands, he tried to play a pass to his teammate Malick Yalcouré, but Donyell Malen was able to nudge in, poke the ball to Serhou Guirassy, who held the ball long enough for Malen to run into the vacant wing, pass it back to him, and for Malen to squeeze a shot through Scherpen.
Ultimately, while it was close, it was a deserved win for Borussia Dortmund. They dominated possession and frequently outshot Sturm Graz 21-7, with an expected goal margin of 1.68-0.57.
Other Thoughts
- Just like on Saturday, Beier had another strong game. His pressing game was elite, and he had a shot from inside the box that was saved off the line by a Sturm Graz defender.
- Guirassy did not have a great shooting game, but he still managed to contribute by holding the ball up and notching an assist on his pass to Donyell Malen.
Your Thoughts
What did you think?
