Man of the Match Poll: Borussia Dortmund Knocked Out of the Champions League by Sporting Lisbon

There you have it. Borussia Dortmund are out of the Champions League and into the Europa League, trailing in third behind Ajax and their opponents tonight, Sporting Lisbon. Sporting were the better side from the word go, and within half an hour they were already 1-0 up through a Pedro Goncalves goal. Goncalves added to his tally just ten minutes later, leaving Dortmund with a hell of a mountain to climb if they were to have any hope of staying in the Champions League.

Unfortunately, despite a brighter start in the second half, a red card for substitute Emre Can, and then a third Sporting goal, scored by Pedro Porro, put any chance of a comeback to bed. Donyell Malen got a goal back in injury time, but they were well out of it by then.

Sporting Lisbon were the better side tonight, in part due to a very listless performance by BVB, and it’s hard to have many complaints about being knocked out of the Champions League. Dortmund definitely suffered some bad luck, in the form of one extremely bad referee call (and a questionable call tonight too) and a long list of injuries, but Ajax and Sporting Lisbon earned their places in the knockouts.

Here’s my best effort at nominations for tonight’s man of the match. It was slim pickings.

Donyell Malen

I thought Donyell Malen played pretty well tonight, and to be honest I think he was the only one. He was lively pretty much throughout, and he deserved his goal. I didn’t expect Malen to be the only shining light in Dortmund colors tonight.

Julian Brandt

Brandt wasn’t exactly electrifying, but he was the only player creating opportunities for long stretches tonight.

Gregor Kobel

He made a couple big saves in the second half, and he did everything he could against Sporting Lisbon’s penalty. I don’t think he was particularly to blame for any of Sporting’s goals either.

Jude Bellingham

At least he gave it a good go. I don’t think he had a particularly good game. But he had a couple bright moments, and that’s more than I can say for most of them. I dunno man. I’m running out of ideas here.