Borussia Dortmund comfortably beat Arsenal 2-0 to launch their UEFA Champions League Group D campaign with a dominant performance that saw them overwhelm their error-prone opponents on Tuesday.
Dortmund, losing finalists in 2012-2013, took control of Group D on three points, with Galatasaray and RSC Anderlecht drawing 1-1 in Turkey in the other game.
Italian forward Ciro Immobile, who until Tuesday had yet to score for Dortmund since joining in an 18 million euro (US$23.33 million) move from Torino, gave the hosts a deserved lead on the stroke of halftime with a superb solo effort as they controlled possession and set the pace for much of the first half.
Photo: AFP
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who terrorized the Arsenal defense with his speed and also hit the post, added another goal after the break as the German side, missing several players through injury, avenged last season’s home loss to the English side.
“We were brave, we were fast and we had everything we needed to win this game,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp told reporters. “I enjoyed it from the first minute to the last. We did what we needed to do to win it. I wanted to put in place a pressing machine and this was almost perfect. If you see games like this it is the best job in world.”
Klopp said before the game that his team would try to keep possession of the ball and that is exactly what they did in a stormy start that left the English side boxed in their own half.
Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos and last season’s Serie A top scorer Immobile had a couple of efforts that sailed wide, before Arsenal ’keeper Wojciech Szczesny denied Gabon international Aubameyang from close range.
Arsenal were running low on defenders, with the injured Mathieu Debuchy and leftback Nacho Monreal staying in England and Calum Chambers on the bench, but being treated for tonsilitis, so manager Arsene Wenger drafted in 19-year-old debutant Hector Bellerin to help stem the flow of Dortmund attacks.
However, Bellerin was picked out by Dortmund players who charged down their left wing, leaving the Spaniard, in his first ever start for Arsenal, overworked.
Arsenal’s first real chance came after half an hour with Kieran Gibbs chipping the ball for Danny Welbeck in the penalty area, but the striker, who joined from Manchester United in the transfer window, failed to connect from close range.
Welbeck missed the London side’s best first-half opportunity in the 41st minute when he was sent through by Aaron Ramsey, but fired wide with only goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller to beat.
Dortmund were not that wasteful and Immobile, starting ahead of fellow newcomer Adrian Ramos, completed a fine solo effort after picking up the ball in his own half, sprinting forward, and shaking off Gibbs and Laurent Koscielny in the process.
The hosts picked up where they left off when Kevin Grosskreutz split open the Arsenal defense to send Aubameyang through to double their lead three minutes after the restart and knock Arsenal down before they got a chance to bounce back.
Szczesny was kept busy early in the second half, palming a powerful Immobile drive over the bar, while Aubameyang hit the bar in the 57th minute with the goalkeeper beaten.
Arsenal became more sloppy in defense, spilling the ball into the Dortmund players’ path, and Szczesny had to use all his skills inside and outside the penalty area to keep the scoreline down.
“They played with a lot of pace up front,” Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta said. “We could not cope with that and we gave the ball away to much. We had three or four very good chances, but I think they were the better side tonight. We faced a top side in one of the most difficult stadiums to play in in Europe. After you go 1-0 down here it is very difficult. We didn’t perform well enough tonight.”
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