Borussia Dortmund had to face a disappointing defeat at the hands of Tottenham as the Black and Yellows were outclassed by Mauricio Pochettino’s men in their opening fixture in the UEFA Champions League group stage. An early goal by Son was cancelled out by new signing Andriy Yarmolenko but Harry Kane was just too much for the defence to handle as the English International scored a brace to thrash Dortmund out of the game.
Here are the Dortmund player ratings in their defeat against the Lilywhites.
Roman Burki (6.5/10): Conceded two goals to his near post which is definitely unacceptable for a goalkeeper of his calibre. He could have a lot better in terms of keeping out the Spurs’ efforts towards his goal. The Swiss International also looked untidy in possession and had to clear the ball more than once from his own area.
Lukasz Piszczek (7/10): Completely failed to cope with the speedy duo of Ben Davies and Heung Min Son. He let Son in behind the defence for the opener. The Polish International should have done a lot better.
Sokratis (7/10): Looked clueless throughout the game. Not only did the Greek defender played Spurs’ players onside but he was also extremely unconvincing with his tackles and positioning. One of the rare times where the Greek wall struggles to perform.
Omer Toprak (7/10): As Sokratis struggled, his partner in crime, Omer Toprak did very little to reassure the defensive line for Dortmund. He was very weak against Harry Kane, to begin with, who completely outmuscled the Turkish International for the second goal of the game.
Jeremy Toljan (7.5/10): One of the better players for Dortmund in the disappointing night. Toljan looked great with the ball and also made some useful runs down the wings which was definitely causing some problems for the opposition defence.
Nuri Sahin (8/10): Sahin played really well. The Turkish midfielder was calm and composed in possession and was always on the lookout for those through balls. He also switched the play on regular intervals to keep Spurs busy throughout the game. Sahin completed more passes than any other player on the night with a mammoth 127!
Mahmoud Dahoud (7.5/10): Was looking very bright throughout the game but lacked penetration or dynamism to cause enough troubles for the opposition. However, few of his passes were top notch, including a brilliant cross which found Aubameyang, who added a stunning finish only to be wrongly disallowed by the assistants on the far side for offside.
Shinji Kagawa (7/10): Basically did nothing to make an impact on the proceedings. Kagawa’s inclusion was always a risky decision by coach Peter Bosz as the Japan International had tasted only 31 minutes of Bundesliga action prior to the game.
Andriy Yarmolenko (7.5/10): Scored one of the goals of Matchday 1 when he curled the ball just from the edge of the penalty area to make it 1:1 inside the first half. However, the Ukrainian was rather silent after that goal, hardly having any sniff of the ball, largely due to the intense pressing of opposing defenders.
Christian Pulisic (8.5/10): He was a complete menace down the left-hand side. Linking up well with Jeremy Toljan, Pulisic looked dangerous every time he got on to the ball. His crosses were also dangerous and few of them almost found Aubameyang. A great display from the American International, who seems to be growing in confidence at the moment.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (8/10): The Gabonese International actually played quite well as the lone striker upfront. He constantly made runs in behind the defence to unsettle the backline and at times, did manage to do so. Had it not been for some poor referring decisions, Auba would have easily bagged two goals against Spurs.
Subs
Mario Gotze (7/10): Came on for a struggling Shinji Kagawa but the German world cup winner failed to add anything to the proceedings. Although his ball carrying was good, one would argue that he should have been dubbed into the starting lineup instead of starting on the bench.
Gonzalo Castro (7/10): Showed some tenacity right after coming on for Mahmoud Dahoud. The former Leverkusen midfielder made one or two rash challenges.
Dan-Axel Zagadou (NA): Replaced a tiring and struggling Omer Toprak right at the final minutes of the game.
