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What happens when a movable object meets a stoppable force? Well, Borussia Dortmund collapse in the first half and Tottenham Hotspur come away with a 2-0 victory and a big confidence boost.
Anyone who has tuned in to watch Thomas Frank’s Spurs this season will have gone into tonight’s Champions League tie feeling pretty optimistic, given that they have been so abject. But they came to life this evening, at least in the first half. They pressed aggressively, played through the lines at pace, and created dangerous chances in open play again and again and again. It was unrecognizable.
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For BVB’s part, they certainly helped make life easier for Spurs. The defending on both Tottenham goals was comical, and Daniel Svensson’s first half red card put to rest any hopes of a comeback. Niko Kovač made some changes at half time and the game was much more competitive in the second half, but the damage was already done.
This was a huge missed opportunity for BVB tonight, with many of the teams around them dropping points. Dortmund are now 12th in the Champions League table. They will need a result against Inter Milan next week if they are going to claim automatic qualification to the knockout stages.
Here are tonight’s nominations for Man of the Match in BVB’s 2-0 loss to Tottenham.
Emre Can
Can was one of several to come into the game and steady the ship in the second half. He was asked to fix the big hole in BVB’s midfield, and I thought he did a really good job given the circumstances. Things could have been even more humiliating if Can hadn’t stepped up.
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Fabio Silva
Silva was probably BVB’s liveliest player (competing for those honours with the next nominee), even though he was only on the pitch was about half an hour. He didn’t manage to turn his efforts into many chances, but with his team down to ten men I thought he did pretty well.
Julian Ryerson
I’m going to be honest, I’m not sure how much Ryerson actually contributed to the football. He’s here because he came in hot and showed some aggression, putting Spurs on the backfoot when they came out for the second half. I think it probably helped BVB find a footing and avoid the situation getting any worse, but even if that isn’t so, it was just nice to see someone kick people.
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Nico Schlotterbeck
I was very tempted to nominate Carney Chukwuemeka and make a point of snubbing everyone who started tonight’s game. I think Chukwuemeka had a solid claim to a nomination too. He didn’t have a blinding game, but like all the other substitutes he brought some energy and had a little bit of success going forward.
Instead, I want to give Schlotterbeck the nod. It’s possible I’ve forgotten his mistakes in that chaotic, embarrassing first half, but I came away from the game feeling like he was the only starter who could hold their head high (you could perhaps add Kobel, who didn’t make a mark on the game but also didn’t really do anything wrong).
Your Thoughts?
What did you make of tonight’s performance? Do you think BVB can still qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League? Let us know in the comments.
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