UEFA Champions League 2018/19: Borussia Dortmund vs Club Brugge

Borussia Dortmund successfully completed their qualification for the UEFA Champions League knockout round, after winning a point against Club Brugge this past Wednesday (28/11). The match was always going to be a tough battle for Lucien Favre and co. considering how difficult Brugge were to break down in the reverse fixture.

Lineups:

Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Burki; Piszczek, Akanji, Zagadou, Diallo; Witsel, Dahoud; Pulisic, Reus, Guerreiro; Alcacer

Club Brugge (4-4-2): Horvath; Mata, Poulain, Mechele, Denswil; Vormer, Nakamba, Amrabat, Dennis; Wesley, Vanaken

Compact Brugge Control Early Exchanges:

Brugge coach Ivan Leko changed his sides formation from the previous game to a 4-4-2. It was most likely due to personnel changes that he was unable to set his side up in the 3-5-2 shape that worked so well in the reverse fixture.

Lucien Favre anticipated the challenge of having to attack a well-organised dense defensive unit and utilizing the full width of the pitch was one of the ways he sought to combat this. He played two left-footers on the left wing for the first time this season with Diallo and Guerreiro, while Piszczek and Pulisic provided full width on the right. Mahmoud Dahoud replaced Thomas Delaney in the starting line-up, which meant that Favre also sought the distribution skills Dahoud, which was one of the reasons Dortmund snuck in a late winner in Belgium.

The game began well for the visitors as they defended using a position-oriented zonal marking system in deep midfield. They sought to remain in positions in relation to their teammates and shift towards the ball while waiting for an opportunity to press. Although a relatively passive approach to defending it worked against a Dortmund side that lacked tempo in their passing. Brugge, knowing that Dortmunds main attacking focus would be creating space in behind their midfield lines, remained compact horizontally and vertically.

Wesley and Vanaken blocked passing lanes into any Dortmund midfielder positioned in the centre, within Brugges defensive block. This ensured that Dortmund were forced to play in the wide channels as they had no access to the interior. They ended up passing laterally whilst in possession for long periods of time, which was just what Brugge had aimed for.

Could Dortmund have done more to find space in behind Brugges midfield line? Certainly. Firstly they shouldve advanced up the pitch much quicker than they did. They spent too much time building up conservatively, which allowed Brugge to get organized into their defensive block. Secondly, they couldve utilised the far spaces more often than they did. When building up on the left for instance, the far side was often underloaded. Instead of switching play laterally they couldve used the diagonal passing range of Dahoud. Or had they had access to space by increasing the speed of their build-up play, they wouldve been able to create connections between their forwards to switch-play, combine and create goalscoring chances.

Reus and Pulisic both had great chances to score but they came from a long pass from deep and a Brugge error in which they failed to clear possession. However, Dortmunds primary attacking strategy ultimately failed in the first half.

Dortmund Fail To Utilise Possession In Second Half:

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