Borussia Dortmund’s struggles continued on Tuesday after the troubled Bundesliga outfit fell to a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which dented their hopes of direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League. Goals in a matter of seconds in the second half from substitutes Thijs Dallinga and Samuel Iling-Junior gave Bologna their first ever win in the modern version of Europe’s elite club competition and handed Dortmund their fourth straight defeat in all competitions.
Last season’s finalists Dortmund, who opened the scoring in the 15th minute through Serhou Guirassy‘s classy chipped penalty, are 13th on 12 points, one point from the top eight with other teams set to complete the penultimate round of league phase matches on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s defeat piled more pressure on under-fire coach Nuri Sahin even though his players showed their support by joining him in a group hug after Guirassy netted his seventh goal in as many Champions league matches this season.
“I think we will sit down together tonight or tomorrow in Dortmund. Right now the game is too fresh,” said Sahin.
Dortmund sporting director Lars Ricken refused to guarantee the coach’s job after the game, telling Amazon Prime: “You will not get an off-the-cuff decision from me in Italy based on emotion.”
“We all want the best for Borussia Dortmund, we will discuss what is best for the club and what the solutions are so that we can get back on the road to success,” Ricken added.
Bologna are 27th on only five points but it would have been difficult to tell judging by the celebrations of the players, coach Vincenzo Italiano and 30,000 fans at a jumping Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
Bologna ‘dream’ realised
The seven-time Italian champions won a preliminary round match against Anderlecht in the old European Cup in 1964, but were eliminated by the Belgians and didn’t return to the top level of continental competition until this season.
“We’re going out but for me today it’s as if we’d won a quarter-final or semi-final, I’m just so pleased,” said Italiano to Sky.
“There’s so much joy for our first win in the Champions League, it’s a dream come true for me.”
Bologna were furious with the spot-kick, for a soft foul on Waldemar Anton, with which Guirassy gave Dortmund the lead.
The hosts were even angrier when referee Serdar Gozubuyuk refused to give them a penalty of their own for a similar shirt tug on Dan Ndoye just as the Swiss looked set to score from a Riccardo Orsolini cross.
That incident, in the 19th minute, seemed to wake up a previously timid Bologna who then dominated, with Orsolini, twice, and Santiago Castro going close to netting their first Champions League goals.
But Italy international Orsolini, who has scored eight times this season, left the field with his head in his shirt 10 minutes before the break after being forced off with what looked like a hamstring injury and replaced by Iling-Junior.
Orsolini’s departure didn’t deflate Bologna however, with the Italians continuing to push for an equaliser which game in the 71st minute when, after being brilliantly sent through by Charalampos Lykogiannis, Jens Odgaard provided a perfect low cross for Dallinga to tap home.
And seconds later Bologna were ahead through Iling-Junior, who pounced on the rebound after Dallinga was denied a second by Gregor Kobel and gave his team a historic win.
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