1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Dortmund's slump continues in Russia

Jonathan HardingNovember 26, 2015

After a shock Bundesliga defeat to Hamburg, Borussia Dortmund were back in action in the Europa League, looking to regain some confidence even without a few of their big names. Sadly, that didn't happen.

https://p.dw.com/p/1HChG
Fußball Europa League Krasnodar vs. BVB Borussia Dortmund
Image: Reuters/M. Shemetov

FC Krasnodar 1-0 Borussia Dortmund
(Mamaev 2' pen.)

Against Hamburg last Friday, Dortmund were far from at their best and despite making six changes for their Europa League tie against Krasnodar, the trend of defeat continued. With qualification secure, there was no reason to risk injury through effort, but a combination of the woodwork and no luck made Dortmund the losing side.

With the game barely a minute old, Mats Hummels gave Mauricio Pereyra a gentle tug and Dutch referee Serdar Gözübüyük awarded the penalty. Hummels' foul was soft, but clumsy, and got Dortmund off on completely the wrong foot. An instant response nearly followed, but Adrian Ramos' brilliant chip hit the bar - the first of three efforts to hit the woodwork on the night - and then bounced clear. Thomas Tuchel's men were persistent in the first half, but without reward. Afterwards, Tuchel said to Sky Sports that the result was paradoxical based on their performance. Improved they were, but empty handed they remained.

Shortly before the break, Dykan made a great save at the near post to deny Ramos again on a miserable night for the hard-working Colombian. The Bundesliga side failed to show much promise after the break either. Further efforts went wide, before the home side, spurred on by their raucous supporters, caused problems in Dortmund's defense.

Ramos had another effort saved, then Julian Weigl hit the bar with a looping header as both time and luck ran out for Dortmund. The best combination of the game came when Hummels won the ball back before setting up a move that Ilkay Gündogan looked destined to score from, but Krasnodar threw bodies in the way. When Henrikh Mkhitaryan hit the post inside the final fifteen minutes, it was clear it just wasn't going to be Dortmund's day. The result means that if Krasnodar win their final game, they will top the group ahead of Thomas Tuchel's side because Dortmund failed to score in Russia this time around.