Borussia Dortmund 2-3 Barcelona: Three takeaways as BVB suffer first home defeat of the season

The pieces might coming together for Borussia Dortmund

The tactical adjustments perhaps came too late, since Dortmund’s best chances prior to the substitutes were all called back for being offside. Barcelona’s back line was well organised and they held the line high up the pitch, which BVB couldn’t seem beat, getting called offside six times. Yet my criticism mostly ends there.

It’s a shame this was a loss, because I think there were a lot of positive signs, most notably Dortmund’s ability to come back after conceding, especially against a team like Barcelona. I’m impressed that the defence held off Robert Lewendowski, who has scored more goals against Dortmund than games he’s played against them. I think Julien Duranville showed us why Nuri Sahin gave him the nod over Donny Malen, and it’s great to see Gio Reyna fit enough to play most of a match.

Julian Ryerson always deserves credit for his work ethic, but others followed the example in this match. Bensebaini was constantly running and trying to win balls back, as was Felix Nmecha, who received a yellow card through his passionate protestations against the referee.

The substitutes entered the game hungry to play and hungry to win. Before making the mistake leading to Barcelona’s third, Pascal Groß brilliantly created the BVB’s second goal after drawing Inaki Pena out of his box. The player who I thought looked most passionate however, celebrating nearly every tackle and progressing the ball at every turn, was Nico Schlotterbeck.