Borussia Dortmund Show There’s No Quit in Them with Spirited Real Madrid Draw

Considering both Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League round of 16 before Wednesday evening, the final match of the group stage could have been a real snoozefest.

Both sides could have been happy with a draw from the first whistle. Los Blancos would benefit from coming in second in Group F after both FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid won their groups, seeing as they would avoid perhaps the toughest draw in Bayern Munich, a team they have struggled with at times in the past.

For Dortmund, on the other hand, avoiding Barca and Los Colchoneros was preferable, while topping a group with perennial Champions League favourites Real was also a question of pride and prestige.

Sure enough, the game ended in a 2-2 draw both sides would probably have signed off on before kick-off. For Real, it also meant they matched the club record of 34 matches without a defeat, per Spanish publication AS. 

One look at the starting XIs, however, revealed that neither side were playing for a draw. It was more of a happy coincidence than a natural consequence. Dortmund deserve a lot of credit for getting a point from the game when they looked dead in the water early in the second half.

Both Zinedine Zidane and Thomas Tuchel selected teams that at least came close to full-strength lineups, and it showed in the 90 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu.

On balance, the hosts were the better side for most of the time, dominating play especially in the first 45 minutes and creating more clear-cut scoring opportunities throughout the match. Dortmund’s plan not to concede the midfield to the likes of Luka Modric and Casemiro only partially worked.

Tuchel surprisingly moved away from the back five/back three hybrid that had given his defence some stability in Bundesliga matches against Bayern and Borussia Monchengladbach, instead going with a fairly attack-minded 4-1-4-1 formation in which Ousmane Dembele played an unusual central role.

The 19-year-old was supposed to spearhead his team’s pressing efforts in the middle of the park, with central midfielder Gonzalo Castro and wingers Andre Schurrle and Christian Pulisic chipping in as well. The quartet covered a lot of ground and managed to win the ball back in counter-pressing a number of times.

However, it came at the cost of some maddening inaccuracies in the few moments Dortmund were able to commit men forward in the first half. Because of the Black and Yellows’ propensity to give the ball away easily in the opposing half, Real were able to play the transition game over the flanks.

It came as no surprise that their first goal came in a transitional moment. Dortmund captain Marcel Schmelzer pushed high up the pitch, vacating his defensive space at left-back. Neither winger Schurrle nor a central midfielder covered Schmelzer’s run forward, leaving acres of space for Daniel Carvajal.

The former Leverkusen man played in a perfect cross to Karim Benzema, who evaded Lukasz Piszczek’s cover effortlessly and poked home in the 28th minute. It was an unnecessary goal to concede. Going up against a team such as Real is difficult enough without giving away …

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