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Season 2023-24
Borussia Dortmund (Germany) (a) Champions League Group Match 4

 

 
Date:
Tuesday 7th November 2023, 5.45pm GMT (6.45pm CET)
Live on TNT Sports

Venue:
 Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund

Conditions: Sobering

Tickets: £16.50 lower tier standing terrace (no concessions)
£47.50/
£37/£32 upper tier seats (no concessions)

Programme:
None
on sale. A four page issue (pictured) was reportedly given away to the media and corporate guests.
 

Borussia Dortmund

Newcastle

 

2 - 0

 

 

Teams

Goals

26 mins: Nico Schlotterbeck's pass was cut out by Fabian Schar but the ball fell kindly for Dortmund and they progressed towards the box through Felix Nmecha who profited from a clumsy attempt at a clearance by Jamaal Lascelles. 

Marcel Sabitzer flicked the ball to Niclas Fullkrug who returned it to Sabitzer, by now in space behind Lewis Hall. He turned and passed back across goal to Fullkrug inside the six yard box, who shot into the roof of the net in front of the South terrace past Nick Pope and Kieran Trippier on the line. 0-1

Half time: Borussia Dortmund 1 Newcastle 0

79 mins: Trippier's free-kick from the left touchline outside the box was cleared at the near post out to Karim Adeyemi. He was able to control the ball, beat Trippier and then hit a long pass upfield that suddenly left Tino Livramento outnumbered two on one, Julian Brandt advancing in possession with Sabitzer making the parallel run unchecked with Joe Willock racing back to try and assist.

Reaching the left side of the box, Brandt opted to shoot rather than pass and his low left-footer curled inside the far post and beyond Pope's outstretched leg. 0-2

Full time:
Borussia Dortmund 2 Newcastle 0

We Said

 

Eddie Howe said:


"In a sense, I’m being forced to make certain decisions and pick certain teams. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses, that’s what we have. We weren't at our best tonight, the intensity, quality of our normal game was missing.

"But in saying that we had our moments. Joelinton's header is the key moment in our assessment. It was a really good move, he would back himself to score that if he came in again. That's football, it happens. Since he's come back from injury, he's been outstanding.

"From our side, we weren't far away tonight. Us at our very best, even with the number of players we have out, are good enough. This game came a day too early. If
(we had been) our best version of ourselves then the result would have been different.

"The frustration from us is that there's more in the tank. We are better than that. I don't think Dortmund have seen the best Newcastle but we have delivered it, so we have to accept it.

"We have to win our last two games."

About Hall's substitution after he was booked:

"We couldn't afford to go down to 10 men."

About Wilson's half-time substitution:

"Callum was feeling tightness in his hamstring so that forced our hand.
"
 

They Said

 

Edin Terzic said::

"Today, it was a very good performance as a complete team. Newcastle had only two losses in their last 13 games, and both were against us, and both times they were kept scoreless. Today, we allowed very few opportunities and had control for the most part. 

"We knew about the quality especially up front, they are very flexible, they are very mobile and can swap between four at the back, three at the back and always looking for balls in behind, always looking for balls into the pockets in between the lines. This is something we tried to stop and we've managed that quite well, especially today.

"We were ready to do everything we could to score a goal and defend ours. We stayed in formation until the end. In the second half, it was a very dominant game from Newcastle but I think we defended well, attacked well, used every open space for us and I think it was a well deserved win.

"In the first half, they tried to get us on the back foot through deep runs. We addressed that during half-time, and completely stopped it. Offensively, from the beginning, we had control, a lot of possession, up to the first goal, and today, we finally found the depth and counter-attacking spaces for the second goal.

"We wished to keep our foot on the gas pedal in the first half. We were doing a lot of things very well and created many scoring opportunities. Newcastle then changed their approach; they became riskier and tried to pull us apart. That's when patience is required. 

"Today, we did it very disciplined, constantly supporting each other, and as a team, it was an excellent performance and a well-deserved victory. We all wanted to be pro-active. Of course, we had a bit of luck, but when you see how we fought for the balls, something we were missing a few days ago. Today, we were ready to give everything to score a goal and defend our own goal.

"The idea was to stick with the same formation until the end and avoid making more substitutions. We felt that between the 70th and 80th minute, our energy levels were dropping a bit, but from the 80th minute, we were able to generate a new burst of energy. We decided not to use all our available substitutions to prevent any disruptions and to avoid the referee from adding more time due to late substitutions.

"Pride is the wrong word. For today, we feel satisfaction in how we were able to execute the things we had planned, and we did it twice against Newcastle. They are an extremely strong team, playing excellent football, and we managed to control and defeat them twice."
 

Stats


Lewis Miley
became the youngest player to appear for the club in European competition at the age of 17 years and 191 days. The previous holder of that accolade was Adam Campbell, who was 17 years and 236 days old when facing Atromitos in the UEFA Cup back in 2012.

The appearance of Miley, Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento extended the number of players to have represented us in the Champions League this season to 22.

This was the largest crowd that we've played in front of at an away ground since 100,000 fans (officially) occupied the Olympic Stadium in Kiev against Dynamo back in 1997.

The Magpies lost their first competitive game in Germany at the fourth time of asking:

2001/02 1860 Munich won 3-2 (IT)
2002/03 Bayer Leverkusen won 3-1 (CL)
2006/07 Eintracht Frankfurt drew 0-0 (UE)
2023/24 Dortmund lost 0-2 (CL)

Road trips - NUFC away from SJP in the CL:

1997/98 Croatia Zagreb (a) drew 2-2 (Qual)
1997/98 Dynamo Kiev (a) drew 2-2
1997/98 PSV (a) lost 0-1
1997/98 Barcelona (a) lost 0-1
2002/03 Zeljeznicar (a) won 1-0 (Qual)
2002/03 Dynamo Kiev (a) lost 0-2
2002/03 Juventus (a) lost 0-2
2002/03 Feyenoord (a) won 3-2
2002/03 Barcelona (a) lost 1-3
2002/03 Bayer Leverkusen (a) won 3-1
2002/03 Inter Milan (a) drew 2-2
2003/04 Partizan Belgrade (a) won 1-0 (Qual)
2023/24 AC Milan (a) drew 0-0
2023/24 Borussia Dortmund (a) lost 0-2

Two for joy? - NUFC after four CL group games:

1997/98 4 points, GD -2 (scored 5, conceded 7)
2002/03 3 points, GD -4 (scored 1, conceded 5)
2023/24 4 points, GD 0 (scored 4, conceded 4)

Group F table:

Group F results/fixtures:

19.09.2023 AC Milan 0-0 Newcastle
19.09.2023 PSG 2-0 Dortmund
04.10.2023 Dortmund 0-0 AC Milan
04.10.2023 Newcastle 4-1 PSG
25.10.2023 Newcastle 0-1 Dortmund
25.10.2023 PSG 3-0 AC Milan
07.11.2023 Dortmund 2-0 Newcastle
07.11 2023 AC Milan 2-1 PSG
28.11.2023 AC Milan v Dortmund
28.11.2023 PSG v Newcastle
13.12.2023 Dortmund v PSG
13.12.2023 Newcastle v AC Milan

 

Waffle

Newcastle's Champions League campaign threatened to come off the rails as Dortmund completed a depressing double at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday evening.

A goal in each half gave the Germans victory to add to their single goal success on Tyneside and leaves qualification in doubt for Eddie Howe's stretched squad as they dropped to fourth place.

Both sides had enjoyed contrasting domestic fortunes on the preceding Saturday; the Black and Yellows hammered 0-4 at home by Bayern Munich as the Black and Whites were dealing with the circus act and the ringmaster from the Emirates.

That counted for little at kick-off though, the significance of the occasion and the grandeur of the surroundings not lost on either visiting fans or players. Echoes of February's trip to Wembley were evident in something of an inferiority complex, even with messrs Pope and Willock in harness this time round our missing list made for grim reading.

On a night when the hosts seemed happy for us to have possession once ahead, the green-clad Magpies were reluctant - or unable - to commit numbers forward and made only fleeting incursions into the Dortmund box, with set pieces providing absolutely no dividend. 

Our two best chances fell to Joelinton either side of half time but he failed to make either header count and cancel out the 26th minute opener from Niclas Fullkrug following a neat passing exchange. Having saved twice from Fullkrug and Karim Adeyemi, Nick Pope was helpless to intervene.

Two changes at the break saw Miggy Almiron and Anthony Gordon replace Lewis Hall and Callum Wilson with Tino Livramento reverting to full back and Kieran Trippier moving over to the left.

The switch brought an improvement and United caused some problems for the home side with Almiron firing wide before Joelinton's golden chance in the 56th minute. Excellent work from Livramento teed up the chance six yards out but his header flashed wide of the far post when a goal seemed certain.

The visitors continued to press and Almiron had another shot blocked minutes before Julian Brandt put the result beyond doubt; Trippier's awful free kick hitting the first defender and prompting a rapid Dortmund attack; that ended Brandt shooting low to seal the destination of all three points.

A fatigued-looking Magpies kept pushing forward and in added time Livramento had an effort saved and Almiron saw a fierce volley blocked but a late comeback similar to the U19s earlier in the day, never looked likely.

AC Milan beat PSG 2-1 in Group F's other game, leaving United bottom with four points - one behind the Italians. There's still plenty to play for in the final two group stage ties, but extending our continental campaign into 2024 may come as a result of securing third place and dropping into the Europa League knockout round - or sadly going into the Milan home game with nothing at stake. 

Memories of our unlikely qualification in 2003 persist, but we may need a few players back if the visit to PSG is going to become the new Feyenoord....

To see our levels drop against a side well used to this competition is no real shock; a mounting injury list and fatigue among those players still fit an inevitable consequence of six hard games in 18 days.

Already missing messrs Anderson, Barnes and Botman before the first meeting of these clubs, by half time here six of the United players in that game were unavailable to Eddie Howe - inevitably affecting the starting line-up and limiting substitution options.

While there were still winning runners in the shape of Willock and Almiron, the altered formation did little to aid our cause and Wilson was rarely seen. Bruno Guimaraes didn't have one of his better games, while these were the nights that Sandro Tonali was bought for, not playing Wolves.

Fighting on three fronts is an unfamiliar concept for us and progress in the Carabao Cup arguably came to the detriment of this competition. It's all a learning exercise though and the confidence remains that we will collectively benefit from these experiences once the novelty of it wears off.

Many travellers were content just to be here and take part of an epic few days but like the Carabao Cup Final, thoughts of winning never really entered our head. Whether that's our ongoing glass half empty attitude, a mental block or an arrogance-free real world take on where we are is debatable.  

What's beyond question is that this was a genuine bucket list trip - and for it to be with Newcastle was an added bonus. That's done now though; we look forward to returning one day and actually going toe to toe with them on the field with a full-strength side.

No one said it was gonna be easy, nobody said it had to be fair...

Biffa


Page last updated 15 November, 2023