Borussia Dortmund have played the first of two friendly matches scheduled for their training camp in Switzerland: the first game ended in a 2-0 (0-0) defeat to Athletic Bilbao in St. Gallen.

BVB coach Marco Rose still had to make do without some of the players who participated in the European Championship, as well as the injured Morey, Zagadou and Coulibaly. Reyna had a slight thigh problem during the warm-up and had to sit out as a precaution, with Gürpüz replacing him in the starting XI. Erling Haaland made his first appearance in a friendly match in this preseason.

Around 3,527 fans in St. Gallen watched an intense opening phase in which Bilbao were the more dynamic of the two teams. After seven minutes, the Spaniards had already had three corners, but failed to threaten from any of them. Bilbao's first chance from open play came in the tenth minute, when Williams fired just over the bar. Three minutes later, Knauff narrowly failed to connect with a Dahoud cross. In the 20th minute, the Black & Yellows launched a counter-attack through Knauff, who powered forward down the right wing and could only be stopped by a foul. The biggest chance of the game fell to BVB in the 30th minute when Alvarez got in the way of a Reus cross. The ball landed just short of the line, but Haaland was unable to force it into the back of the net. Shortly before half-time, Schulz passed up a chance from a promising position after a counter-attack (44), while down the other end, Kobel got down well to save at his near-post after a deflected shot from Papadopoulos (45). 

Bürki replaced Kobel in goal for the second half and he was soon at the heart of the action, as he felled Raul Garcia in the box. Garcia stepped up to convert the resultant penalty and give Bilbao a 1-0 lead (50). Five minutes later, the Black & Yellows had their first chance of the second half through Tigges. The striker, who had come on to replace Haaland, received a pass from Dahoud and fired a shot on the turn, but Bilbao goalkeeper Ezkieta did well to make the save. Instead, the next goal of the game fell to the Spaniards: the ball landed at the feet of Vivian after a free-kick, who was able to finish and make it 2-0 (57). Not long afterwards, substitute Wolf was forced off due to injury and was replaced by Bynoe-Gittens (62), who was substituted in turn for Mrosek in the 81st minute. Bilbao had a great opportunity in the 70th minute: Berenguer had space to shoot from close range after a defensive error, but Bürki made a strong reflex save. BVB could then only muster up two shots from distance: Dahoud blasted over from 25 metres out (71), while a Brandt free kick was saved by Ezkieta.

Christina Reinke

BVB: Kobel (46, Bürki) – Passlack, Papadopoulos, Maloney, Schulz – Dahoud (79, Lütke-Frie) – Knauff, Gürpüz (46, Wolf, 62, Bynoe-Gittens, 81, Mrosek), Brandt, Reus – Haaland (46, Tigges)
Goals: 0-1 Raul Garcia (50), 0-2 Vivian (57)