Borussia Dortmund have lost their second match at the "Christmas Cup" in Bucharest. They suffered a 2-0 (0-0) defeat at the hands of Italians Fiorentina, who are now ideally placed to win the tournament.

The Black & Yellows, who had won their opening game against Rapid Bucharest 2-1 thanks to goals from Pohlmann and Reyna, were up against the 10th-placed team in Italy's Serie A in their second match. Edin Terzic again called on a blend of first-team and U23 players, and – with the exception of goalkeeper Lotka – named a completely new team that included World Cup participants Schlotterbeck, Brandt and Adeyemi.

The ball found its way into the back of the BVB net twice in the opening three minutes, though the linesman's flag was raised on both occasions. At the other end, the opposition had a close shave when Brandt squared the ball towards Braaf, who hit the crossbar from the centre-left of the box (8). Fiorentina were a different calibre of opponent to Rapid, consistently threatening from set-pieces, dominating aerially and often crossing from out wide. But the Black & Yellows – now in a 4-1-4-1 line-up – also posed a danger of their own from free-kicks: Brandt's precision cross picked out Papadopoulos, whose headed goal was ruled out for offside – for the third time in the match (24).

BVB could have taken the lead shortly after the half-time break when Fiorentina's keeper parried Semic's shot straight to Malen, who could not control his effort and headed the ball wide of the target (33). Instead, it was Fiorentina who scored at the other end with a curious shot from 30 metres out. The unmarked Mandragora slipped over as he pulled the trigger and the ball flew deceptively into the net (35). The second goal for the Italians, who were met with too little resistance by the Dortmund defence, came four minutes later. Bonaventura went clean through after a simple one-two and upped the score to 2-0. Apart from their early chance to take the lead, BVB came up with hardly anything in the second half, and the last match of 2022 ended in a deserved defeat. Papadopoulos was shown a booking three minutes before the end. Cabral then hit the inside of the post (60).

BVB 0-2 (0-0) Fiorentina

BVB: Lotka – Semic, Papadopoulos, Schlotterbeck, Schulz – Özcan – Adeyemi, Gürpüz, Brandt, Braaf – Malen
Goals: 0-1 Mandragora (35), 0-2 Bonaventura (39)
Boris Rupert