Borussia Dortmund Player Ratings From Valiant Effort Against Tottenham

Borussia Dortmund fell 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in their final UEFA Champions League game of the season at home, but looked better than we’ve seen in recent weeks.

They took the lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the first half. But all their efforts were undone as Tottenham came from behind to win 2-1. The result confirmed Borussia Dortmund’s elimination from the UEFA Champions League. Here are the player ratings for Peter Bosz’s side from the game.

Roman Bürki (8/10)

Bürki had one of the most spectacular saves of the season to deny Eric Dier in the 41st minute. Dier, who’d easily slipped away from Marc Bartra on a corner, had a brilliant header on goal, but Bürki magically kept it out with the tips of his fingers. He had a couple of other solid saves on the night as well, and Dortmund will be keen to get him back to full health as quickly as possible.

Marcel Schmelzer (5/10)

It wasn’t a particularly inspiring performance from the Dortmund captain, who hasn’t quite looked himself since coming back from injury. He had a couple of good interceptions, but also struggled to cope with the pace of Serge Aurier, who repeatedly flew past him down Dortmund’s left side.

Dan-Axel Zagadou (6/10)

Zagadou was Dortmund’s best defender against Tottenham. He was an absolute wall in the first half, and looked remarkably calm and collected throughout the match. Should have done better to prevent Kane from scoring Spurs’ equaliser, as the Englishman’s shot went in between his legs. But it’s so easy to forget that he’s 18 years old! He has already developed since the start of the season, and there’s no reason to think he won’t keep getting better and better.

Marc Bartra (4/10)

Bartra looked off in his natural position at center-back. There at least two instances of misplaced passes that he managed to get away with, and his positioning throughout the night was poor. Even more disconcerting, he gave up pressuring Dele Alli, allowing Alli to create Tottenham’s second goal. Perhaps the team’s bad run of form has gotten inside his head.

Jeremy Toljan (4/10)

Toljan looked uncomfortable every time he touched the ball. He could not seem to find any of his teammates with his passes. It was his wayward pass that led to Tottenham’s equalizer at the beginning of the second half. Toljan really hasn’t had an impressive game yet at right-back in a Dortmund jersey.

Julian Weigl (6/10)

It was Weigl’s lovely pass that initially created the chance that led to Aubameyang’s goal. It was a better game than we’ve seen over the past couple weeks from Weigl, who has struggled recently. He was better both defensively and offensively, but still doesn’t look fully back to his normal self. Dortmund needs him to find his form again.

Mario Götze (5/10)

Götze had a number of good defensive contributions in the first half, but disappeared for large swaths of the game. He was involved in one or two chances, but needs to put in a full 90 minute effort. A little extra creativity from Dortmund’s number 10 could work wonders for this BVB side.

Shinji Kagawa (5/10)

Similar to Götze, Kagawa didn’t get as involved as one might have hoped. He had a couple of good ideas didn’t come off and a couple of clever passes that didn’t amount to anything. Honestly, Tottenham deserve credit for their solid defense. On another night, Kagawa and Götze may have found the gaps a little more easily.

Raphaël Guerreiro (6/10)

Guerreiro played well in the left wing position further up the pitch. He had some good link up play with Kagawa and Schmelzer, and and had a great continuation to Yarmolenko leading to Aubameyang’s goal. He had a couple of good balls into the box as well. It would be interesting to see him played more regularly in a more advanced position.

Andriy Yarmolenko (6/10)

Yarmolenko was an absolute joy to watch at times against Tottenham. He seemed to be the only player on the pitch playing with any confidence. His gorgeous backheeled assist for Aubameyang was nothing short of sublime. Yarmolenko had two other incisive passes to Aubameyang that came to nothing, but were remarkable nonetheless. But once again, he showed his inconsistency and went missing for parts of the game. A lot more is expected from Borussia Dortmund’s star signing of the summer.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finally ended his goalscoring drought, but his first half strike ended up in vain. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images) /

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (6/10)

Aubameyang missed a couple of one-on-one chances with the keeper, as he tends to do, and was nowhere to be found for most of the second half. It could be argued that he was starved of passes, but in any case he’s back on the score-sheet, which will do wonders for his confidence. I appreciated his humble lack of celebration, as he’s struggled over the past few games. He was also energetic off the ball and tracked back defensively when Dortmund got caught out high up the pitch.

Substitutes

Gonzalo Castro (5/10)

Castro didn’t have an impact on this game. He had a couple of giveaways in midfield, but didn’t contribute too much.

Omer Toprak (N/R)

Another game, another injury in defense for Borussia Dortmund. This time it was Zagadou who came off in the 78th minute to be replaced by Toprak.

Roman Weidenfeller (N/R)

The veteran goalkeeper came on in stoppage time after Roman Burki had to be stretchered off the field. Could make his first start of the season in this weekend’s massive derby game against Schalke.

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Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Player ratings from valiant effort in UCL

By Asher Woodbury | Nov 22, 2017