Borussia Dortmund Beat Sporting Despite Tactical Issues, Aubameyang Sideshow

Borussia Dortmund advanced to the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday evening, beating Sporting CP 1-0 at home in Westfalenstadion.

It is a massive accomplishment for the Black and Yellows to make it into the next round after only four matchdays, especially considering their domestic struggles at the moment. Thanks to Real Madrid's shocking 3-3 draw at Legia Warsaw, the Ruhr side even have the inside track to winning Group F.

The second match against Sporting resembled the first meeting in Portugal, as Dortmund came out of the gate flying, looking sumptuous in attack for stretches in the first half before completely losing the plot in the second period.

It is a mystery why this team is unable to give an accomplished 90-minute performance these days, as the last fully satisfying showing came on September 17 against SV Darmstadt in the Bundesliga. Even in their wins after that game, Dortmund either rode their luck defensively or forgot how to play forward with any kind of intensity at some point.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

On Wednesday, part of the blame has to go to head coach Thomas Tuchel. The 43-year-old switched to a five-man defensive line at half-time in an attempt to counter the visitors' much more aggressive approach in comparison to the meeting two weeks prior.

Tuchel's counterpart, Jorge Jesus, who had spent the last two Champions League matches in the stands because of a suspension, had his team prepared for Dortmund's usually dominant playing style, focusing especially on Julian Weigl.

The 21-year-old had enjoyed acres of space in Lisbon, even scoring his first professional goal, but on Wednesday, he found himself marked tightly throughout the match. He still ended up with a team-leading 104 touches, per WhoScored.com, but he had little impact on their attacking display.

Luckily for Dortmund, Weigl was not required to have much of an impact in the first half. Sporting played with three defenders, situationally five, but still had massive problems on both wings. Christian Pulisic was arguably the best player on the pitch in the first 45 minutes, blazing past hapless Marvin Zeegelaar at left-wing-back time and time again.

The young American should have won a penalty inside the opening three minutes, when former Liverpool centre-back Sebastian Coates pulled away his standing leg in the box, but referee Danny Makkelie curiously waved play on.

Pulisic was not deterred, however, and played an important role in the lead-up to the game's decisive goal. Excellently controlling a long Sokratis Papastathopoulos pass, the 18-year-old laid off for Mario Gotze. Dortmund's No. 10 showed good vision in picking out right-back Matthias Ginter, whose pinpoint cross found Adrian Ramos' head.

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Ramos Goal Dortmund Vs Lisbon pic.twitter.com/aHgJVWFjPn

— GoalsMatchDay (@GoalsMatchDay) November 2, 2016"

Pulisic could have doubled the lead after a nifty one-two with Gotze 11 minutes from the intermission, and both Ousmane Dembele and Raphael Guerreiro had excellent chances to give Dortmund a more comfortable lead as well.

It was arguably the most fluid the team has looked in weeks and, as stat provider Opta indicated, allowed many players to get in on the action:

In the second period, though, the Black and Yellows created nothing going forward. Their only two scoring opportunities were two free-kicks Rui Patricio in Sporting's goal had little problem dealing with.

Tuchel's tactical switch, aimed at keeping the visitors at bay, only managed to stymie his own attack. Sporting still found themselves with too much space in Dortmund's defensive third and benefited from inaccuracies in their passing.

Marc Bartra and Guerreiro showed some serious rust in their performances, giving the ball away countless times in the buildup. Per WhoScored.com, Bartra ended up with a pass-completion rate of only 81 per cent, compared to 94.2 per cent for Sokratis, the other starter at centre-back.

"Our passing distances were very long," Tuchel told German broadcaster ZDF after the match (h/t the club's official website). "That's why we needed a lot of time to shift the play. Our strategy [in the second half] was to control the match via four offensive midfielders, but that didn't work so well."

PATRIK STOLLARZ/Getty Images

Indeed, Tuchel's quest for better balance backfired dramatically. A better side than Sporting would likely have punished Dortmund for it. As it was, though, the visitors never came too close to an equaliser despite pushing for it with might for some stretches.

"We defended well in the second half, so it's a fair result, even if it wasn't a gala performance from us," defender Ginter said after the match, again per the club's website. The 2014 FIFA World Cup winner added that "you could sense we were a bit uncertain. Of course we are not exactly oozing self-confidence after the last few games."

In the context of those last few games—Dortmund had only won one match in regular time, the first meeting with Sporting, since the end of September—the end justified the means on Wednesday. Tuchel and his team knew a win would be enough to advance to the next round. Somehow, they got it.

The excitement is likely to be short-lived, however. Not only will Dortmund face bogey team Hamburger SV on Saturday, the run-up to the Bundesliga match is likely to be overshadowed by the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sideshow.

The Gabon international was left out of the squad for the Sporting match for internal reasons, as both chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke and Tuchel declared before the match. Even though they stayed mum on the reasons why Dortmund would pass on playing their star striker in a key contest, Tuchel implicitly confirmed it was a suspension.

After the game, he said, per the Mirror's Alex Richards: "It was very difficult to do without him. But it was that I had no choice. The decision was made [Tuesday] afternoon. In the next game, he will be back. Internal reasons means internal. I do not account for speculation."

Richards reported the reason for the suspension was an unsanctioned trip to Italy on Monday, just two days ahead of the important Champions League meeting with Sporting. He wrote: "Tuchel had been particularly furious with Aubameyang, a player he believes should now be seen to be acting as a leader by other members of his young side."

Whatever the reasons for the suspensions were, it is a needless distraction for a team that is not exactly firing on all cylinders. As one of only a few experienced players in the squad, the 27-year-old should know better than to take focus away from the pitch.

It was only fitting, though, that his replacement, Ramos, would score the winner and generally play fairly well. ESPN FC's Stefan Buczko rated the Colombian at seven out of 10, the joint-highest rating with Pulisic and Gotze. He noted Ramos "acted as a vital target man throughout the game to secure the ball with his back to goal."

The 30-year-old has a pretty strong record under Tuchel when playing up front, having scored 12 goals and assisted a further four in under 1,800 minutes of action—20 matches' worth of playing time—as a striker, per Transfermarkt.

That said, the Aubameyang sideshow put the team at risk and is therefore unacceptable. It remains to be seen whether it will have a lasting effect on the relationship between the striker and the club. Given the fact he has always given his all for the team, however, chances are it will only motivate him.

In that sense, the suspension would serve a purpose for the team. Having advanced to the round of 16 in the Champions League would not be the only positive from another mixed performance against Sporting.

Lars Pollmann also writes for The Yellow Wall. You can follow him on Twitter.