Borussia Dortmund travelled to Bergamo holding a two-goal advantage after their impressive display in last week’s first leg of the Champions League knockout play-off. Ahead of the return leg, BVB coach Niko Kovač made it clear that his side would not be playing for a bore draw just to see out the tie.
Words that would ring oh so true come full time.
After last week’s opener in the Ruhr, the Italian side returned to league action with an impressive 2-1 victory over Napoli. Raffaele Palladino made three changes to his starting XI, notably with Sunday’s match winner Lazar Samardžić and Gianluca Scamacca returning to the lineup. Kovač, meanwhile, made two changes from the weekend’s last-gasp draw with Leipzig.
Atalanta began the game on the front foot and stunned Dortmund just five minutes in when Ramy Bensebaini inadvertently turned Nicola Zalewski’s cross straight into the path of Scamacca. The former West Ham striker didn’t need a second invitation and slotted comfortably under Gregor Kobel, giving Dortmund a huge wake-up call.
Dortmund continued to soak up pressure as Atalanta had Die Schwarzgelben in a stranglehold, and at the halfway mark in the first half, very nearly levelled the tie after some excellent hold-up play from Scamacca. Zalewski let fly with a powerful shot but was denied by the outstretched arm of Kobel.
Following that chance, Dortmund began to get a foothold in the game and, through Julian Brandt, tested Marco Carnesecchi for the first time. Forcing the towering Italian into an excellent save low to his right to deny the German.
Atalanta wrestled back control of the game and levelled the tie on the stroke of half-time when Davide Zappacosta let fly through a crowd of bodies. The full back’s effort took a huge deflection off Bensebaini in the process, wrongfooting Kobel.
The second half began as the first half had ended with Atalanta in the ascendancy. However, it was Dortmund who had the first chance of the half when Serhou Guirassy turned his marker and let fly, Carnesecchi again making an excellent save to deny the Guinean.
The end-to-end nature of the game showed no signs of slowing down when Kobel was called into action once again, making saves from Scamacca and Marten de Roon. Back at the other end, Maximilian Beier was set through on goal, but with the angle against him, his shot rattled the far post.
In a game that was impossible to take your eyes off, Atalanta completed the comeback just before the hour mark when Mario Pašalić headed home from a pinpoint cross from de Roon.
Dortmund were not going down without a fight, though, and moments after Guirassy squandered a huge chance, substitute Karim Adeyemi took it upon himself and fired in an outstanding left-footed strike to level the tie once again.
With the score level on aggregate and the clock ticking down, Adeyemi’s introduction provided fresh impetus, and it looked as though if anyone would find a winner, it would be Dortmund.
However, with just seconds of added time to go, Dortmund would suffer a cruel twist of fate. Bensebaini struck Atalanta forward Nikola Krstovic square in the forehead whilst attempting to clear a cross.
With the referee sent to the VAR monitor, he brandished three red cards in a matter of seconds. The recipients being Bensebaini, Nico Schlotterbeck, as well as a member ofAtalanta’s coaching staff. But more importantly, Atalanta were afforded a chance to win the game with the last kick. Striker Samardžić placed his effort into the roof of the net, giving Kobel no chance.
It goes without saying, this is a severely damaging defeat for Dortmund, who’s season now rests solely on what happens when they host Bayern Munich at the weekend. To throw away a two-goal advantage before half-time of the return leg feels unforgivable.
How Niko Kovač picks his players up and motivates them to go again on Saturday, only he knows.
Atalanta 4–1 Borussia Dortmund (4-3) | Player Ratings
Borussia Dortmund:
Gregor Kobel (6) – Emre Can (4), Waldemar Anton (4), Ramy Bensebaini (2) – Julian Ryerson (5), Jobe Bellingham (5), Felix Nmecha (5), Daniel Svensson (5) –Julian Brandt (6), Maximilian Beier (6) – Serhou Guirassy (4)
Others: Carney Chukwuemeka (5), Fabio Silva (5), Karim Adeyemi (7), Yan Couto (5)
GGFN Man of the Match: Karim Adeyemi (7)
Without Adeyemi’s introduction, this segment would have been N/A for tonight’s game. Virtually as soon as he left the bench, he grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and looked as though he had single-handedly taken the game to extra time. Had the rest of his teammates been anywhere close to his standard, we might be pondering a Der Klassiker clash in the Champions League round of 16.
GGFN | Harry Good
