Woeful Borussia Dortmund handed shock 2-4 defeat by Rangers

Borussia Dortmund’s UEFA Europa League hopes are hanging by a thread after they suffered a 4-2 defeat at home in the first leg of their knockout round playoffs tie against Rangers.

Borussia Dortmund were dubbed as one of the favourites to win the UEFA Europa League heading into the knockout rounds. But they are now facing elimination at the very first hurdle after suffering a 4-2 defeat at home to Rangers.

It was yet another chaotic defensive showing from Borussia Dortmund. And it could have been a lot worse had Rangers played with a bit more composure in the final third of the pitch. Goals from James Tavernier, Alfredo Morelos, John Lundstram and an own-goal from Dan-Axel Zagadou helped Rangers claim a well deserved and historic win at the Signal Iduna Park.

Jude Bellingham and Raphael Guerreiro were on target for Dortmund to give them some hope of overturning this deficit next week.

Marco Rose named the same starting XI that claimed a 3-0 win over Union Berlin at the weekend, which meant that Axel Witsel kept his place in the lineup and Jude Bellingham started in a more attack-minded role once again.

Borussia Dortmund made a watchful start to the game, as Rangers forced a couple of important saves from Gregor Kobel early on. Dan-Axel Zagadou had Dortmund’s best chance of the first half. But he failed to trouble the goalkeeper despite having a free header inside the six yard box. Marco Reus then had an effort cleared off the line, before things went awry for the Black and Yellows.

Rangers were awarded a penalty after Zagadou handled the ball inside the box, and James Tavernier made no mistake from 12 yards out. More ordinary defending from Borussia Dortmund allowed the away side to double their lead just two minutes later. Alfredo Morelos tapped the ball into the back of the net from point blank range after the Dortmund defenders failed to deal with a corner.

Marco Rose decided to bring on Youssoufa Moukoko and Gio Reyna at half time in the hope of inciting a response from his team. But it was Rangers who struck the next blow, with John Lundstram curling his shot into the back of the net from the edge of the box. Jude Bellingham responded immediately with a sumptuous finish of his own.

But any hopes of a Borussia Dortmund comeback were crushed immediately, as an own-goal from Dan-Axel Zagadou restored Rangers’ three goal cushion.

Raphael Guerreiro pulled a goal back late on, leaving Borussia Dortmund with a small chance of overturning this deficit heading into next week’s second leg. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a poor performance from Marco Rose’s side, who simply didn’t turn up for the game.

The only good thing for Borussia Dortmund is the fact that there are still 90 minutes to be played in this tie. But if they play like they did in the first leg, any hope of a stunning comeback will be evaporated quickly.