PSG 2-0 Borussia Dortmund: Key takeaways from Champions League defeat

The BVB forwards had an evening to forget

While Edin Terzić’s strategy focused on holding off PSG, it was imperative that Borussia Dortmund also exploited the spaces left by the French side to find opportunities to score. It was crucial not to concede, but the Black and Yellows also needed to figure out ways to harm PSG.

With the ball, the formation changed into a 3-4-3, giving the wing-back freedom to help in the attacking phase. This scheme was designed to take advantage of the spaces left behind in the flanks, and capitalise on the BVB players’ pace on the counter-attack.

However, Borussia Dortmund completely failed to create much in terms of chances and didn’t really threaten the PSG goal until Luis Enrique’s side decided to drop back with a 2-0 lead in the bag.

It was expected that Borussia Dortmund would explore more direct avenues to get the ball forward. But too many passing and progression mistakes limited BVB offensively.

Even after conceding the second goal, Edin Terzić did not dismantle the back three, instead subbing off Brandt and Malen. With no major improvements following those changes, he later took Emre Can off for Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, while Niklas Süle improvised as the defensive midfielder at times.

Many different ideas, but with no effectiveness and the same result: Borussia Dortmund were harmless versus PSG. They also did not threaten Gianluigi Donnarumma at all, who was merely a spectator by the end of the match.