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Manchester (AP) - Passable performance, no wages - Borussia Dortmund just missed the hoped-for coup in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League at the high favorites Manchester City.
Despite a significant increase in performance, the team of coach Edin Terzic lost to the English star ensemble 1: 2 (0: 1), but kept their chance for the second leg on Wednesday.
In the empty stadium of the "Citzens", the former Wolfsburg Kevin De Bruyne (19th minute) and Phil Foden (90th) scored the hard-fought victory of his team.
BVB captain Marco Reus (84th) had equalized in the meantime.
With the important away goal, Dortmund still have a chance for the second leg on Wednesday next week.
Unlike the 1: 2 against Frankfurt three days earlier, BVB made a courageous appearance.
After the poor performance against Eintracht in the Bundesliga, Michael Zorc saw the professionals in the debt.
«We need a much, much better team performance.
What I want to see is that we bring a different body language to the field, ”demanded the sports director at DAZN shortly before kick-off.
The courage of coach Terzic to call Ansgar Knauff, who is only 19 years old and has only been used for seven minutes in the premier class, into the starting line-up, at least paid off at the beginning.
BVB got off to a good start and had the first chance with a shot by Jude Bellingham (7th) parried by City Keeper Ederson.
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But then the hosts, who had previously won 23 of their last 24 competitive games, took over the direction as expected.
Aided by a playback error by Emre Can, who was used in midfield this time, Manchester struck cold as soon as they approached the goal.
The former Bundesliga professional De Bruyne initiated the counterattack and was there from close range after a pass from Riyad Mahrez.
The residue left little effect on Borussia.
Unlike the last time in the Bundesliga, the willingness to run and combat behavior were right.
An alleged hit by Bellingam (37th) after an Ederson mistake was called back for an alleged foul by the Englishman.
That deprived the guests of the wages they deserved for a passable first half.
Even after the restart, BVB fought at eye level with the sovereign leaders of the Premier League.
Erling Haaland, the best scorer in the Champions League so far, missed the big chance to make it 1-1 in the 48th minute when he failed to Ederson from close range after Mahmoud Dahoud's good advance.
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In this phase, the “Citizens” were far from the usual dominance in possession of the ball.
The tactically well-organized Dortmunders did not manage to capitalize on it.
But the opponent also missed the chance to make the early preliminary decision: After a pass from De Bruyne, Phil Foden (65th) failed to BVB keeper Marwin Hitz.
With the beginning of the final phase, Borussia's plan still worked out.
After a remarkable pass from the Norwegian Haaland, Reus equalized and conceded the Englishmen's first goal in the Champions League in 790 minutes.
But Foden nullified the hoped-for draw.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210406-99-107068 / 3
Match information on UEFA.com