Borussia Dortmund vs. Porto: Winners and Losers from Europa League
Borussia Dortmund beat FC Porto 2-0 in the first leg of the round of 32 of the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League in Signal Iduna Park on Thursday evening.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel surprised with his lineup, which saw Nuri Sahin replace the ill Ilkay Gundogan in midfield. Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Julian Weigl and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned to their usual spots in the XI, starting in place of Neven Subotic, Matthias Ginter and Gonzalo Castro, respectively.
The visitors, meanwhile, were forced to make some changes. Full-back Miguel Layun moved to central defence, while winger Silvestre Varela started at right-back. Eighteen-year-old prodigy Ruben Neves replaced the suspended Danilo Pereira in midfield, while head coach Jose Peseiro preferred Moussa Marega to Jesus Corona in front of Varela.
Lukasz Piszczek scored the opener after just six minutes following a cross from Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Iker Casillas did well to save the Pole's first effort but could do nothing about his header from the rebound.
Dortmund utterly dominated the entire match but failed to convert their superiority into more goals. Casillas denied Marcel Schmelzer, Mkhitaryan and Shinji Kagawa numerous times.
Marco Reus finally scored the highly deserved second goal in the 71st minute after a Mkhitaryan assist, although much of the praise belongs to Kagawa. The diminutive Japan international held his own in a duel with a Porto defender and found Mkhitaryan by himself in the penalty area.
Peseiro's team didn't change their approach despite going two behind, as the Dragons seemed content with the result. Their only true goalscoring opportunity came in the 89th minute, but Roman Burki kept his clean sheet intact with a fine save off substitute striker Suk Hyun-Jun.
The Black and Yellows have put themselves into a very comfortable position going into the return leg on February 25, while the loss by two goals also allows Porto to dream of advancing to the next round.
Here, B/R picks the winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Nuri Sahin
1 of 5
Nuri Sahin's performance would've been very good for any central midfielder on any given day, but considering the circumstances, it was nothing short of sensational.
The Turkey international made his season debut and his first start in 355 days after problems with a tendon in his adductor muscle sidelined him since February 28, 2015.
He didn't look rusty whatsoever and had total command over his team's buildup play, bossing the match until his substitution after 57 minutes. Sahin's impressive showing prompted tactics blogger Tom Payne to tweet: "How you can play like that nearly a year since your last game is beyond me."
Tuchel said after the game that he couldn't hold the 27-year-old midfielder back any longer, via the club's Twitter account (link in German), adding that he had been fired up for weeks.
Loser: Vincent Aboubakar
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Cameroon international Vincent Aboubakar was supposed to be the Dragons' danger man but didn't pose a threat to Dortmund's defenders all game.
Sokratis and Mats Hummels completely dominated the 24-year-old, who lost seemingly every duel, be it on the ground or in the air.
Of course, he was a victim of his side's very defensive mindset for the game, but it still was a poor performance from the striker. The fact that he was taken off after 87 minutes spoke volumes. At a time when Porto finally tried to get in dangerous areas, Aboubakar found himself on the bench.
Winner: Mats Hummels
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Dortmund captain Mats Hummels has been in fine form all year, but this was without question his best performance yet.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup winner was absolutely majestic both in defensive duties and in buildup play. He enjoyed playing in a different role than usual: In possession, Dortmund had three at the back, with the skipper moving to the left.
The 27-year-old interpreted his position very offensively, often pushing deep into enemy territory himself, but never failed to get back in time to put out a fire before it could spread.
The Yellow Wall podcast's Luca Gierl tweeted that "Hummels was phenomenal," and it's hard to argue. The Black and Yellows' No. 15 was the best player on the pitch, and it wasn't even close.
Loser: Jose Peseiro
4 of 5
German football fans who don't get to watch Porto must have have often rubbed their eyes in disbelief watching the visitors on Thursday.
The Dragons, famous for attacking football with great individual quality, were ultra-defensive, not even trying to score a goal until the dying moments of the match.
Jose Peseiro, who took over in January following the sacking of Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui, saw his side get outplayed from start to finish but didn't make any changes.
He said after the game, via Dortmund-based paper Ruhr Nachrichten on Twitter (link in German), that the 2-0 loss was a difficult result, while speculating whether his side missed experienced players such as Danilo and Maxi Pereira.
Those absences can hardly serve as an excuse for such a poor performance, however. It says a lot that a loss by "only" two goals was the only somewhat positive takeaway from Porto's evening in the Westfalenstadion.
Winner: Marco Reus
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Marco Reus didn't have his best day. He was a bit cut off from Dortmund's play for large parts of the game, playing second fiddle to Mkhitaryan and even Schmelzer in attack.
But he did, as he does so often, score a crucial goal that gave his side a much more comfortable cushion for the return leg.
His inclusion on this list isn't based on his goal, though. We include him because of the fact that he was still on the pitch in the 71st minute.
Thirteen minutes before his goal, Silvestre brutally fouled Dortmund's No. 11 at the sideline, as the picture tweeted by Ruhr Nachrichten writer Christian Stein shows. The jobbing right-back got away with just a yellow card.
Reus, of course, has an extensive injury history in recent years, having missed the Brazil World Cup with an ankle injury, among other things, so seeing him score following such a scare was very reassuring for Dortmund fans.
Lars Pollmann is a featured columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
