Borussia Dortmund vs. PAOK: Winners and Losers from Europa League Game
Borussia Dortmund lost their second UEFA Europa League group match in a row on Thursday, falling to PAOK, 1-0, in front of their own fans in Signal Iduna Park. It was the Black and Yellows' first loss at home under Thomas Tuchel.
Because of Krasnodar's 3-0 victory at Qabala in Group C's other match, the affair in Dortmund was completely inconsequential.
Perhaps in anticipation of that, Tuchel opted for a whopping nine changes to his side in comparison to the 2-1 win over Wolfsburg on the weekend. Star performers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were among the players rested to start the game, while fringe players like Park Joo-ho or Adnan Januzaj got a rare chance to prove their worth for 90 minutes.
The visitors, meanwhile, had nothing to play for regardless of the result in Azerbaijan, and head coach Igor Tudor expectedly rotated his squad a bit, but he still fielded a very defensive-minded XI.
Dortmund controlled the game for the entire game. At one point in the first half, they had 90 per cent possession, according to German broadcaster Sky.
Like in the first meeting of the two clubs, Robert Mak opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark. To say the goal came out of nowhere would be an understatement, as it was their first shot in the entire contest. It would remain their only attempt of the evening.
The hosts struggled to break down PAOK's defensive block, and when they managed to find an opening, either the woodwork or goalkeeper Panagiotis Glykos were in the way. Shinji Kagawa, Marco Reus and Aubameyang all hit the frame of the goal.
Dortmund were unlucky to lose the game, but that shouldn't take anything away from PAOK, who finish the group stages with the second-best defensive record in the competition, as they conceded only three goals.
Without further ado, here's a look at our winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Panagiotis Glykos
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PAOK's 29-year-old man between the sticks was easily the man of the match. Dortmund fired 20 shots towards his goal, and Glykos and the woodwork were the reason not one of those attempts found the net.
He was called into action time and time again throughout the game, but his most important contribution came just after half-time. Within two minutes, he denied Mkhitaryan at point-blank range and parried a Kagawa header safely over his goal.
This performance must have cemented his status as Tudor's No. 1 in goal, after Glykos didn't start the season as PAOK's first-choice 'keeper.
Loser: Adnan Januzaj
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It was a rare opportunity for Dortmund's Manchester United loanee, but Januzaj didn't take advantage.
The 20-year-old featured in the starting XI for the first time since the first encounter between Dortmund and PAOK in Greece on October 1 and played the full 90 minutes for only the second time since making the loan move to Germany.
STV Sport's Stefan Bienkowski tweeted after the game: "I know nobody at BvB really cared tonight but Januzaj, Park and Ramos were terrible."
The Belgium international looked tentative most times he got the ball in dangerous areas, which was especially frustrating for the home team's supporters in the 63rd minute. The ball fell to a relatively unmarked Januzaj in the box, who took far too long to realise the opportunity before him and didn't even manage to get a shot away.
As Yellowwallpod's Luca Gierl tweeted during the game: "Januzaj's end product is nonexistent today."
Winner: Robert Mak
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Thomas Tuchel lamented the fact that his side were beaten with a single shot on the evening in his press conference after the game, via Ruhr Nachrichten on Twitter (link in German), and that shot came from a familiar face.
Former Nurnberg fringe player Mak has found a home in Greece, and it's easy to see why. He's by far his side's best goalscorer—Thursday's marked his 13th goal across all competitions—he's also the only PAOK player who found the net in the Europa League group stage.
His goal was a show of his pace and technical ability. A long ball from Dimitris Konstanidis carved up a disorganised Dortmund defence. Captain Mats Hummels tried an offside trap, but left-back Park Joo-ho was unaware of the situation and stepped out far too late, playing Slovakia international Mak on. The 24-year-old rounded Roman Weidenfeller and slotted home from a tight angle.
Loser: Thomas Tuchel
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Granted, the game was inconsequential in the end and always likely to be just that, but this loss still was disappointing for Dortmund's head coach. Tuchel admitted as much in his press conference, where he called his side's defeat unnecessary and hurting, per Ruhr Nachrichten on Twitter (link in German).
The 42-year-old made some curious lineup decisions that didn't help his cause on the evening. Without Ilkay Gundogan, who missed the game with a bruised pelvis, the hosts were already one major creative force short for their meeting with ultra-defensive PAOK.
Nonetheless, Tuchel played Sven Bender in defensive midfield and not Julian Weigl, the far-more strategically gifted player. Also, Neven Subotic got to keep his place in central defence, but his performance was—more than anything else—a reminder why he's not featuring much this season. He's not a great option for a team that has the overwhelming majority of possession.
Tuchel had to balance his selection for the game: With two important games in the Bundesliga and the round of 16 in the DFB-Pokal coming up, key players needed to be rested. But a loss to a side as limited as PAOK—at home, to boot—was unacceptable.
Winner: Pascal Stenzel
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One—and perhaps the only—Dortmund man who won't try to forget the day is Pascal Stenzel. The versatile 19-year-old, who can play all over the defence but is likely to settle down at right-back eventually, made his professional debut against PAOK.
The Germany under-20 international took Gundogan's role in the right half-space in Dortmund's 4-3-3 and didn't look out of place playing at this level of competition for the first time.
Local paper Ruhr Nachrichten called his performance attentive and committed, while also noting he made a few mistakes especially in the second half (link in German).
After the game, Tuchel said that Stenzel would have benefited from his team playing better overall, per the club's Twitter (link in German), but it was still an encouraging first outing for one of Dortmund's exciting youngsters.
