Champions League: Borussia Dortmund's loss to Manchester City and Mats Hummels' anger

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Mats Hummels' wake-up call against Manchester City had no effect

Photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

The admonishing outside instep, the punishing outside instep:

Mats Hummels had seen enough.

The BVB veteran had just unpacked his tackle to tip a cross in front of ex-colleague Erling Haaland, who was ready to score.

But instead of celebrating the action that secured Dortmund's lead in the 72nd minute, Hummels appealed to his team-mates with gestures.

"Push out," he seemed to mean to the defensive association of BVB.

But the pressure that the guests from Dortmund had put on the ball artists of Manchester City for so long became less and less.

In the end, a long-range shot fluttered into the goal, then João Cancelo calmly prepared Haaland to make it 2-1 - with the stylistic device that Mahner Hummels chose as a pseudonym on Instagram: the outer instep.

Cancelo's cross was wonderful, but the evening was over for BVB.

The result:

BVB lost 1:2 (0:0) despite the lead and good performance in Manchester.

Once again, the big, surprising success that Dortmund has been waiting for for a while did not materialize.

After the opening win against Copenhagen, the next two games against FC Sevilla will be crucial in the fight for the round of 16 in the Champions League.

Here is the match report.

The music doesn't play here:

»The masters.

The best.

Les grandes équipes – the champions!« The anthem of the Champions League is perhaps the most iconic indication that a premier class game is about to take place on a soccer field.

But the viewers in Manchester had to do without the cherished ear candy: In the United Kingdom, the flags have been hanging at half-mast since the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday.

The match day in the Premier League was completely canceled last weekend, against BVB the teams started with black ribbons and a minute's silence instead of much fanfare.

Uefa rejected the request of the hosts to at least play the national anthem "God Save the King" as a substitute.

Black and yellow family reunion:

For three of eleven citizens in Pep Guardiola's starting eleven, the game was a reunion with old colleagues.

On the one hand, there would have been Haaland, who was able to score more than one goal per game in the Champions League for BVB, and Manuel Akanji, who is also often a top performer, but only went on the good side to a limited extent.

The only thing that is really loved in Dortmund is the captain of the English champions: The black and yellow associate Ilkay Gündogan with better times, for example the last championship title in 2012. Ex-teammate Sebastian flirted with a return of the national player, whose contract in Manchester expires after the season Kehl at least half-heartedly before the game: "That would be super nice," admitted the BVB sports director.

»But possibly also super unrealistic.«

Harmonious hanging in the air:

It is possible that Edin Terzić would not have found a place for the designer Gündogan in Dortmund's starting eleven.

At least not for the match plan that the BVB coach hatched against City: With the inclusion of clearer Emre Can for fine spirit Julian Brandt, Terzić relied on a strong, gripping midfield centre.

City's joy in playing should be reduced and the defense, which initially had to do without Nico Schlotterbeck (back problems) and completely without goalkeeper Gregor Kobel (torn muscle), should be kept free.

And that was excellent in the first half: City only got four shots, none of them on goal.

Ex-colleague Haaland didn't have a chance after 45 minutes and only eleven ball actions.

Only: It didn't look any better the other way around.

Plan B to succeed Haaland, Anthony Modeste

Der Goldjunge:

After the break, the balance of power shifted a bit.

Surprisingly in favor of BVB: First Marco Reus put the ball just wide of the far post after a wonderful move (54th), then after a corner Jude Bellingham headed the lead (56th), Ederson was already in the wrong place corner on the way.

Leaders, top performers, present in big games - and still in his teens: on his return to his home country, thanks to the goal, Bellingham once again underlined why he is considered the crown prince of English football in central midfield.

BVB will be happy: In the coming summer, Borussia is likely to face a competition from the most financially strong Premier League clubs.

Flapping:

For ten or fifteen minutes, BVB defended their lead in a concentrated manner and almost outrageously confidently, not only in the duels, but also with a lot of ball security in the build-up.

Then gradually Guardiola's jokers, particularly rested in view of the game-free weekend in England, began to attack the Dortmund team.

The game shifted to and around the BVB penalty area.

John Stones' flutter ball overwhelmed the until then sovereign Kobel representative Alexander Meyer, the sharp but moderately placed shot didn't seem untenable.

When Haaland jumped artistically into Cancelo's outside instep trick, the BVB keeper could not be blamed.

Hummels' frustration:

At the very end, the man who had tried in vain to shake up his teammates on the pitch before it was too late had his say again.

"We had City," Hummels sighed deeply at the Dazn mic.

“We sacrificed ourselves for 80 minutes.

We had them exactly where we wanted them.« Then came the great tiredness, the unwillingness to continue to stand on the opponent's feet beyond the limits of their capacity.

It was precisely this willingness that Hummels missed, he pushed other attempts at explanations preventively: The tactical change was “an excuse”, not the reason for the defeat, and anyone who wanted to accuse the substitute Schlotterbeck of a positional error at 1: 2 should “unsubscribe from sports journalism”. .

After a lot of conciliation, the defender really didn't feel like it anymore:

“The frustration already clearly outweighs it.

We can't buy any of the rest today."