Spirited Borussia Dortmund display not enough as Manchester City earn late win

Borussia Dortmund suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat in the first leg of their Champions League tie against Manchester City, with Phil Foden scoring a 90th minute winner.

Kevin de Bruyne had earlier given Manchester City the lead in the first half after a casual giveaway from Emre Can. City dominated possession but weren’t able to add to their tally or trouble the Borussia Dortmund goal. Marco Reus then made them pay by scoring a priceless away goal to make it 1-1 in the 84th minute.

The Borussia Dortmund captain found the net after being played in by Erling Haaland, and become the club’s leading goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League in the process.

But just when Dortmund thought they would be going home with an away goal and a priceless draw, Ilkay Gundogan beat the offside trap and passed the ball to Phil Foden, who finished coolly past Marwin Hitz.

The game was marred by some poor refereeing from Ovidiu Hategan, who decided that Jude Bellingham’s tackle on Ederson was a foul even though the England international clearly got the ball. The referee blew his whistle before Bellingham could score into an empty net, and VAR was not able to intervene as a result.

Just how costly that decision will prove to be, we will find out next Wednesday when Manchester City make the trip to Dortmund.

The Black and Yellows showed a good account of themselves over the course of the 90 minutes and came close to coming away from Manchester with a 1-1 draw. But individual mistakes and a lack of cutting edge (combined with some woeful refereeing) proved to be the difference in the end.

Next up for Borussia Dortmund is a trip to VfB Stuttgart on Saturday, before Wednesday’s second leg at the Signal Iduna Park.