Borussia Dortmund vs. Arsenal: Winners and Losers from Champions League Game
Borussia Dortmund opened up play in Group D of the UEFA Champions League in dominant fashion with a 2-0 win over Arsenal at home.
From the first minute on, Jurgen Klopp's side controlled possession, but they could not find a breakthrough until a 45th-minute strike off the boot of Ciro Immobile.
Dortmund scored their second in the 48th minute on a strike by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and from that point on, they were able to close out the game with ease.
Continue reading on for a look at the biggest winners and losers from the Champions League Matchday 1 clash.
Winner: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had one heck of a night up front for the German side, as he scored the second goal and was a constant threat all game long.
Aubameyang terrorized Laurent Koscielny with his pace on his 48th-minute goal, which saw him blaze past the Arsenal defense on a counter.
Nine minutes later, Aubameyang came close to scoring his second goal of the match, but he was denied by the crossbar.
The Gabon international recorded a game-high six shots in the first Champions League match of the season for Jurgen Klopp's men.
Loser: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
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Henrikh Mkhitaryan had a rough day at the office for Dortmund, as he was booked for simulation and missed a sitter in the first 45 minutes.
Mkhitaryan looked to earn a penalty in the fifth minute, but the replay showed that he had dived after Mikel Arteta came in to break up his potential move forward in the box.
He once again found himself in trouble in the 29th minute, when he missed a shot from point-blank range after the ball fell to his feet in front of goal.
His bad luck continued into the second half, as he had a few chances to break away and score, but he placed one shot over the bar and took too many touches on his move forward late in the game.
Winner: Ciro Immobile
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It may take a while for Dortmund fans to forget about Robert Lewandowski, but if Ciro Immobile finishes like he did Tuesday, that process may be shorter than expected.
Immobile finished off a terrific first half for the hosts with a goal right before the half-time whistle.
He continued to play well in the second half before he left to a standing ovation in the 86th minute.
If the new acquisition can continue to show up in big games and combine well with Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan up front, the production level up front for Dortmund may not drop off as much as expected.
Loser: Everything About Arsenal's Defending on the 2 Goals
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The Gunners produced some dreadful defending on the two goals netted by the hosts.
On the first goal, Immobile was allowed to cut through the defense starting at the halfway line, as he went on to split a pair of defenders and strike on the counter.
The second goal by the German side came in the same manner, as Aubameyang killed Koscielny with his pace on a counter to beat Wojciech Szczesny.
There were a few other moves by Dortmund that caused plenty of problems for the Arsenal back four, but luckily only two goals beat Szczesny because it could have been much worse.
Loser: Mesut Ozil
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According to the starting lineup, Mesut Ozil was on the pitch for the Gunners, but it was hard to actually prove that as a fact.
Ozil was invisible for most of the match, as the Gunners attack failed to put together a consistent threat on Roman Weidenfeller in the Dortmund net.
To make matters worse, Ozil picked up a yellow for a challenge on Marcel Schmelzer early in the second half.
When he left the field in favor of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 62nd minute, Ozil had 33 touches, which was the lowest number for any Arsenal starter.
Winners: Dortmund's Center-Backs
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One of the reasons why Arsenal were ineffective in attack was the play of Neven Subotic and Sokratis Papastathopoulos at center-back.
The duo combined for 18 effective clearances, and they played a physical game against Danny Welbeck to limit the chances of the Arsenal forward.
The pair of defenders may not have gotten forward as much as they usually do, but they didn't have to, given how dominant the attack was.
Because of that, Dortmund were rarely caught out on the counter, like Arsenal were on a few occasions.
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All statistics obtained from WhoScored.com.
