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As everyone already knows, the UEFA Champions League is the most important trophy in club football. Barcelona started their quest to a sixth title with a trip to Dortmund, in a match that gave us many attacking highlights.
The match gave us a UCL debut for Ansu Fati, the return of Lionel Messi and a disasterclass from Marco Reus. The first half saw Barcelona orchestrate the first opening of the game as Gerard Pique's header anxiously flashed across the goal in the 13th minute.
In the 25th minute, at the opposing end, Reus was thwarted by Marc-Andre ter Stegen when through on goal.
The second half saw Marc-Andre ter Stegen save a penalty from the Dortmund captain in the 57th minute.
Minutes later, Julian Brandt would hit the crossbar with a stunning long range effort. After that, Reus would then sky a close range effort in the 75th minute, leaving the BVB faithful to rue their many missed chances.
Despite all the attacking talent on show, these two exciting teams couldn’t be separated in an end to end 0-0 draw.
Here are 5 hits and flops from Borussia Dortmund 0–0 Barcelona.
#5 Flop: Ansu Fati
Ansu Fati is officially the first 16-year-old to ever represent Barcelona in the Champions League. The fact he was even in the squad let alone starting XI is a great testament to his talent and recent performances. However, despite the momentous achievement, Ansu Fati had a night to forget in Germany.
The 16-year-old, understandably, looked lost and void of ideas on the flank. Perhaps, some of this could be attributed to the lacklustre nature of his teammates, but regularly, Fati looked like the weak link in a forward line with Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann.
Before getting substituted for Lionel Messi, the youngster completed 24 passes, two tackles, one successful take-on and attempted 1 shot in a performance he will remember as a true baptism of fire. With Lionel Messi back in the first team set up, we may only be seeing the youngster in substitute cameos from now on.
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#4 Hit: Jadon Sancho
The young Englishman has had the whole world watching his every footstep over the past two seasons. And with that attention, he’s directly contributed to 40 goals in 49 appearances for Borussia Dortmund.
Tonight, all eyes were on him to perform in perhaps the most high-profile match of his career. Messi is a global TV audience attraction, meaning if you perform when he’s in the same arena, more people will notice. And he showed that audience why there’s so much hype surrounding his name.
Every time the youngster picked up the ball he looked to run at Jordi Alba/Nelson Semedo. Throughout the game, Jadon Sancho completed five take-ons and 35 passes. But it was his beating of Semedo that presented Dortmund with their best chance to win the game, a chance Marco Reus squandered.
#3 Flop: Lionel Messi
After passing a medical test, Lionel Messi was welcomed back by Barcelona into the first team set up. Before a ball had even been kicked, Barcelona had an advantage. Although he started on the bench, his sheer presence alone clearly put the fear factor in the Dortmund team.
After a relatively even first half, Messi attempted to make his presence felt in the second half. Despite an initial upstart in tempo, Barcelona soon returned into their shell as a youthful and exuberant Dortmund side overran them in the final quarter of the game.
Despite a few touches of brilliance, the great Messi looked unfit and off the pace as Dortmund simply marked Messi out of effectiveness.
In his 30-minute cameo, the returning Messi completed two dribbles, completed 18 passes and attempted one shot on target in an uninspiring return to first-team football.
#2 Hit: Mats Hummels
The experienced defender put in perhaps his best performance of the season thus far. It’s performances like these that have made many to believe that if he was playing last season, Dortmund would have won the Bundesliga.
Alas, the experienced Centre Back made his return to the Westfalenstadion in the summer, after three extremely successful seasons at Bayern.
From the first minute to the last, Mats Hummels led his backline with authority and confidence. With a plethora of the world’s best attacking talents in front of him, Hummels held the hand of his younger Centre Back partner Manuel Akanji to an outstanding clean sheet.
The 30-year-old completed three tackles, 10 clearances and seven interceptions in a commanding man of the match performance. His teammates will need him to be in a similar vein of form when they travel to the Nou Camp.
#1 Flop: Marco Reus
Marco Reus is the one world-class player that refused to make the jump from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich. He’s the one that stayed loyal and because of that, he’s become somewhat of a cult hero in these parts of Germany. However, it was a night to forget for the club legend.
The 30-year-old was presented with a golden chance to record a historic win for his club as Jadon Sancho was swiped down by Nelson Semedo in the penalty box.
As the club’s penalty taker, Reus instantly stepped up to the plate. He would, however, be met by his match in his German teammate, Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The German keeper would make a wonderful save to his left whilst also having the reactions to swallow up the rebound.
If that weren’t enough, Reus then missed from 12 yards out again, as he blazed over a low cross in the 75th minute. With that, Dortmund’s main two chances were both squandered by the same man, leaving them to wonder what if.
