2-0 - Immobile and Aubameyang score against Arsenal
Borussia Dortmund started their UEFA Champions League campaign with a win. In front of a sold out 65,851 crowd at Signal Iduna Park, BVB triumphed 2-0 (1-0) over Arsenal with the goals coming from Ciro Immobile (45 mins.) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (48 mins.).
Five months after their fulminating 2-0 triumph over the eventual champions Real Madrid, the Black n Yellows once again lit the blue touch paper on a footballing firework which denied Arsenal any chance of getting into the game at any stage; indeed they were often overrun at the back. The two goals, the first from Immobile following a 60m solo, were worth the entrance fee alone!
Felix Ulrich reports from the Signal Iduna Park
The Scenario:
Borussia were taking part in the Champions League for the fourth consecutive time since 2011, that level of consistency had never before been achieved in the club’s history. It was the third time these two teams have come up against each other in this period, with Arsenal starting 17th (!) consecutive Champions League. BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke spoke ahead of the game of another footballing party night which he anticipated “with huge pleasure.” BVB’s record in opening CL fixtures was three wins, three draws and three defeats.
Erik Durm im Duell mit Arsenals Mesut Özil.
Personnel Matters:
Head coach Jürgen Klopp made four changes from the side that started the 3-1 win over SC Freiburg at the weekend. Sven Bender replaced Jojic, Immobile Ramos, and Aubameyang took over from Kagawa. The injured Pizczek was covered by Durm moving across to the other side of defence with Schmelzer hugging the left touchline. Hummels, Kirch, Blaszczykowski, Gündogan, Reus, Sahin and Ji were all unavailable for selection. Arsene Wenger raised a few eyebrows opting to give Hector Bellerin a first start in the back four rather than Debuchy. The 19-year-old Spaniard had not played a minute in the Premier League let alone the Champions League. Further changes to the side that drew with Manchester City at the weekend saw Kieran Gibbs starting ahead of Monreal. In midfield Flamini made way for Arteta while Germany’s World Champions Mertesacker and Özil on from the start and Podolski on the bench.
Tactics:
BVB once again opted for a 4-2-3-1 system against the Londoners 4-1-4-1. The Black n Yellows focussed early on on pressing the visitors high up the field with the likes of Kehl and Bender often pressing as high up as onto the Arsenal back four. Arsenal made mistake after mistake in possession under this continued pressure. The Signal Iduna Park did not have to endure any shadow boxing.
The Game and Analysis:
When Norbert Dickel screamed “Ciro!” across the stadium PA at around 9.30 p.m., the stadium was bouncing. “Immobile!” the throng screamed back. The lad had just opened his competitive goal account for the club and how! The Italian took possession in the middle of the park and embarked on a direct, high speed run at the heart of the Arsenal defence, skipping past Gibbs and Koscielny before slipping a right foot shot beyond Szczesny into the far corner. He had covered some 60 meters to prompt that deafening noise and earn a well-deserved first half lead.
BVB played at a frightening pace from the first minute. Wave upon wave of attack rocked the Arsenal defences who were extremely fortunate to go in just a goal down at the end of the first half. The statistics backed up that impression with BVB having 16 shots on goal to the visitors’ one.
BVB had had Arsenal on the rack for much of the first half starting as early as the fifth minute when Mkhitaryan was brought down by Koscielny only to win not a penalty but a yellow card for diving from the Portuguese referee.
Black n Yellow joy: Mkhitaryan and Immobile celebrate the opener.
BVB continued to take the game to the visitors, and at pace but the next real chance didn’t come along until the 27th minute when Großkreutz found Aubameyang from the left only to see the man from Gabon fire his close range effort cannon from the body of the Arsenal ‘keeper. Two minutes later Immobile crossed causing Szczesny to flap his clearance only as far as Mkhitaryan who fired over. Arsenal, having invested some 100 million euros on new recruits in the summer, offered nothing.
Just after the half-hour mark Weidenfeller had his first bit of work to do when he scrambled the ball away from Welbeck yet even then he quickly started a move that nearly brought the opener after a fine move involving Kehl finished with Aubameyang denied by the Polish ‘keeper who was soon also stopping an Immobile effort. Arsenal? Just another Welbeck effort on 41 minutes which he put wide.
After the break Ginter came on for Kehl and the game started pretty much where it had left off. All BVB. And another BVB goal, this time Großkreutz found a charging Aubameyang who set off towards the Arsenal goal with defenders trailing in his wake before firing past the advancing Szczesny from the edge of the box to make it 2-0 on 48 minutes. The sequence of events before and after half-time reminded one of 1983 when, in March, Michael Schulz and Lothar Sippel had scored quick-fire goals either side of the break against Roma.
Aubameyang scored the second on 48 minutes.
Anyone who thought BVB would rest on their laurels was soon found to be mistaken with Subotic and Sokratis in total command at the back, the rest of the team poured forward at every opportunity; Immobile, following fine work by Mkhitaryan had a shot turned round for a corner on 52 minutes, then in the 57th, Aubameyang was denied by the post.
The Arsenal ‘keeper was extremely fortunate on 71 minutes when he failed to take full account of the onrushing Aubameyang only to watch, relieved as the rebound from the striker bobbled wide. Three minutes later Mkhitaryan was maybe a little selfish when he fired over failing to play in better placed colleagues but at the other end Arsenal still fired only blanks. Indeed, another effort from Welbeck on 77 minutes was pretty much all they had to show for their efforts over the entire course of the game.
Immobile left the field to a standing ovation on 86 minutes but there was still time for Aubameyang to have one more chance to make it 3-0 on a truly memorable evening of football.
Teams & Goals
UEFA Champions League, Matchday 1 BORUSSIA DORTMUND – FC ARSENAL 2-0 (1-0)
BVB travel to play FSV Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga on Saturday with the game starting at 1830 (CET) in the Coface Arena. On October 1, the Champions League continues with a visit to RSC Anderlecht who this evening drew 1-1 with Galatasaray.
