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Axel Witsel scores 2-1
Photo: ANTON VAGANOV / REUTERS
Borussia Dortmund moves into the Champions League round of 16 as group winners.
BVB won 2-1 (0-1) at Zenit in Saint Petersburg.
Sebastián Driussi (16th minute) gave the Russians the lead, Lukasz Piszczek in the 68th minute and Axel Witsel turned the game around (78th).
The qualification for the knockout round had already been certain for BVB before the last group game.
Due to Dortmund's deficit and Lazio's lead in the parallel game, it looked for a long time as if the Italians would be group winners.
In the end, Lazio only played 2: 2 (2: 1) against Bruges.
Dortmund (13 points) closes the group ahead of Lazio (10).
Bruges continues to play in third place (8th) in the Europa League, Zenit is last (1).
Also due to injury concerns, coach Lucien Favre had to convert his team to six positions compared to the 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Marwin Hitz rotated into goal for Roman Bürki, Marco Reus and Thorgan Hazard formed the two-man attack.
At the beginning, however, BVB hardly ever got into the penalty area, and there was often a lack of coordination in the passing game.
Zenit had the ball less often, but came to more dangerous offensive actions, as in the 1-0: After an attack on the right side, Driussi got a shot in the center, which Mats Hummels deflected into his own goal (16).
Without their injured top striker Erling Haaland, BVB missed the goal for a long time.
It wasn't until shortly before the break that Reus had the greatest chance when he hit the post with a flick from 15 meters (45th).
In the second half, too, Zenit confined itself to defending the lead for most of the time.
BVB coach Favre reacted and brought in Youssoufa Moukoko, a nominal center forward (58th);
At 16 years and 18 days, Moukoko is the youngest debutant in Champions League history.
A 35-year-old defender managed to equalize: Goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov blocked a shot from Hummels as a result of a corner, but Piszczek dusted off from a few meters to make it 1-1 (68th).
Ten minutes later even the 2: 1: Witsel, former Zenit professional hit from 17 meters with a low shot into the lower right corner (78th).
After that, Zenit became more offensive again, but Hitz showed good saves, the equalizer was no longer successful.
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