Borussia Dortmund's sporting manager Nils-Ole Book has lavished praise on forwards Serhou Guirassy and Fabio Silva for leading the BVB to a nervy 3-2 win over Villarreal on Tuesday.
Dortmund began their 2026-27 UEFA Champions League campaign with a repeat of last year's fixture against the Yellow Submarine.
Although the result wasn't as dominant as the 4-0 in their first meeting last November, Die Borussen once again came up trumps, nonetheless.
Speaking to the press after the game, Book hailed Villarreal for creating goalscoring opportunities at the Signal Iduna Park as the side gave Dortmund some real scare earlier on.
"We had a lot of good moments in terms of our play and had the game under control. Around the time of the first goal we conceded, we lost our rhythm a bit, and Villarreal had a few chances at that point. We also can’t forget that this was last year’s third-place team from the Spanish league."
Finishing third in LaLiga behind only FC Barcelona and Real Madrid for their highest finish in the competition since the 2012-13 season, Villarreal qualified for the Champions League at a canter.
But unlike their last visit to the Westfalonstadion, where they struggled to create anything meaningful, the Spanish side held firm last night and asked questions of the BVB on the counter.
Just 13 minutes after Renato Veiga's own goal for Dortmund to put the hosts in front, the Yellow Submarine restored parity with a corner that Santiago Mourino converted with a well-placed header.
However, BVB's attacking talismen Guirassy and Silva then combined to score their third before the former dispached a penalty he himself won after drawing a foul from Mourino inside the box.
Book reserved both the forwards in high regard as he added:
"Overall, we showed our class both defensively and offensively. All of us are noticing what a great job Fábio Silva has been doing up top. And everyone knows that Serhou Guirassy is one of the best strikers around."
Guirassy was making his 100th appearance for Dortmund and has now racked up 19 goals in the Champions League for the club, the most behind only Marcos Reus.
Having also scored one goal apiece in both their Bundesliga games of the 2026-27 season thus far, the Guinean ace now boasts four goals in all competitions.
As for Silva, he had scored in all three appearances for the BVB so far, and now bagged his first assist of the season, continuing his record of making a direct goal-contribution in every game he's played in this term.
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