Having opened their account with a loss, the team made their way to Charles de Gaulle Airport and will commence preparations for the Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in Dortmund in the early afternoon. Still, the 0-0 in the group's other game between AC Milan and Newcastle United has not worsened the position ahead of the remaining UEFA Champions League group games.

Paris Saint-Germain are the heavy favourites to win the group. Three clubs are battling for second place, which also secures participation in the round of 16. BVB sit only one point behind AC Milan and Newcastle, and still have qualification in their own hands. They will go up against Milan at home on 4 October, before facing the English outfit in a double-header. If they are to be successful, they will need a different performance to the one in Paris.

"You can formulate it nicely and say: We had too much respect. Or you can say that we were simply lacking courage," said Edin Terzic after the deserved 2-0 defeat at the Parc des Princes. The shortcomings were addressed and solutions were outlined at half-time, "but then we come out and this penalty happens straightaway". The fact that a similar incident involving Marquinhos at the other end went unpunished frustrated the BVB coach for another reason: "These controversial handball situations in the penalty area, where there is still no clear line but room for interpretation. Paris will say, that's a handball and has justifiably led to a spot-kick; we of course say the opposite. There is nothing we can do to change that. What bothers me more are the points I made beforehand, which have nothing to do with the referee but rather with the way we performed."

Only two in three passes reached a team-mate in the first period. That changed significantly after the interval, with the pass completion rising from 66% to 84%. The shot count stood at 10-6 to BVB in the second 45 minutes, with the French side no longer so dominant (58% possession). "In the final 30 minutes, we showed that something is also possible here if you are calmer on the ball and more courageous in general," reflected Terzic, who continued critically: "It was simply not at a high enough level for long enough. That's why you can label it a deserved defeat."
Boris Rupert