Borussia Dortmund may miss out on top spot. On the fifth and penultimate Matchday in Group C, they slipped to a 1-0 (1-0) defeat away to FC Krasnodar and thus lost their head-to-head battle with the Russians, who have the same number of points.

Boris Rupert reporting from Krasnodar

Many of the almost 30,000 spectators in a not-quite sold-out Kuban Stadium had not even taken their seats by the time Mamaev put the hosts ahead with an early penalty (2). The Black and Yellows were unperturbed by the early setback and dictated the play but were wasteful when it came to converting their chances. FC Krasnodar were saved by the woodwork on three occasions.

The scenario:  
Krasnodar needed a win to stand a chance of prising away top spot in the group from Dortmund, who themselves only needed a draw (or a defeat by one goal in which they scored at least twice) in order to wrap up pole position in the pool after five matches. In their previous four matches, the Black and Yellows had picked up ten out of a possible 12 points, while the Russians were in second place on seven. Following a poor start to the campaign, the sixth-placed side in the Russian top flight were unbeaten in eleven consecutive matches since the end of September (seven wins, four draws). Thomas Tuchel said: "It is most difficult match of the group stage by far."

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Adrian Ramos was unlucky to see his lob hit the bar.

Personnel matters:  
Aubameyang, Reus and Park (all carrying minor injuries), Kagawa (rested) and Durm and Sahin (both on individual training programmes) did not travel to Russia with the squad. Thomas Tuchel made six changes to the team which lost 3-1 in Hamburg, bringing a seven-match winning streak to an end: Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Bender, Castro, Hofmann and Ramos replaced Bürki, Ginter, Sokratis, Kagawa, Reus and Aubameyang in the team.

Tactics: 
BVB lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Gündogan on the left of the defensive midfield duo positioned slightly further forward than Weigl and Castro, who occupied a position in the centre of the attacking midfield trio, positioned slightly across to the right. Krasnodar adopted a 4-4-2 formation with two banks of four when not in possession but then switched into a 4-3-3 formation with the ball, with Mamaev (right) and Smolov (left) moving forward to join Ari and Pereyra falling back into midfield.

The match & analysis:
The match was only 22 seconds old when the Dutch referee pointed to the spot, though the decision to award a penalty was somewhat dubious. Hummels was deemed to have held back Pereyra. In any case, Mamaev was unperturbed by the discussions and left Weidenfeller no chance. It was the fifth time in nine European matches this season that BVB had fallen behind - and it was the second time Mamaev had put them behind.

BVB responded by launching wave after wave of attack on the goal of a Krasnodar side that had won all of their previous home games in the Europa League this season. In the seventh minute Dykan was unable to hold Mkhitaryan's shot, but Hofmann's follow-up was well wide of the mark. Shortly afterwards everyone in the stadium thought that Ramos' lob over keeper Dykan was destined to equalise, but the ball bounced in the six-yard box and came down off the underside of the bar - and back into play (8). Then Castro, on the left wing, played the ball back to Gündogan, whose shot flew narrowly wide of the frame of the goal (10).

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Marcel Schmelzer narrowly missed out on a second Europa League goal.

BVB, who had previously won all their away ties in Russia (Vladikavkaz, Moscow, St. Petersburg), enjoyed 64 per cent of the possession in the first 45 minutes and - just like the first match - almost equalised shortly before the half-time interval. There were chances for Hofmann, who entered into the penalty area from the right hand side but whose shot was deflected away for a corner kick (43), for Ramos, whose header was pushed around the post by Dykan, and for Bender from the subsequent corner: "Manni" jumped the highest but headed the ball wide of the left post (45).

The second period began with a spectacular curling effort from Schmelzer (47) and a dangerous-looking header from Piszczek (following a free-kick) which flew just centimetres wide of the goal (54). Krasnodar did have the spectators out of their seats on a couple of counter-attacks, but the most dangerous incidents - with the exception of a Smolov shot (57) and Jedrzejczyk's attempt following the hosts' first corner of the match (66) - took place at the end the visitors were attacking: Ramos failed to beat Dykan with a header from five metres (60), Kaboré accidentally deflected an attempted clearance onto the bar of his own goal (63), and Gündogan shot from eleven metres out following Mkhitaryan's pass, but a Russian threw himself in the way and prevented the equaliser (73).

Two minutes later Schmelzer went on a run down the left flank, crossing the ball into the box for Mkhitaryan, who hit the post from eight metres (75). Borussia, who brought on Januzaj as a centre-forward (Ramos moved to the left) after 68 minutes, hardly let their hosts, who had switched to a back five and looked exhausted, out of their own half. But try as they might, the equaliser would not come.

Prospects: 
Top spot in the group will now be decided on 10 December. Borussia Dortmund, who will welcome PAOK Saloniki to Germany, need Krasnodar to draw or lose against Gabala. The Black and Yellows will face Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Sunday (15:30 CET).

Teams & goals