Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund: Ter-Stegen saves Reus penalty, match ends 0-0

Messi and Rakitic are watching the proceedings from bench
Messi and Rakitic are watching the proceedings from bench

Barcelona, though dominated Dortmund, may consider themselves lucky to earn a point in their first match against in Westfalenstadion today in UEFA champions league. For Borussia Dortmund, they have failed to score in five of their past six matches in the Champions League. The match also saw Paco Alcacer was also not able to find back of the net after consecutive six matches this season.

First Half

Signal Iduna Park is one of the best stadiums in Europe and the Dortmund fans, complete with their famous ‘Yellow Wall”. They gave the players a raucous welcome befitting of a Champions League final rather than a group game.

Barcelona started with Messi and Racitic on bench with Grizzman, Suarez and Fati in attack. Ansu Fati (16y 321d) has become the first 16-year old to appear for Barcelona in Champions League history, overtaking Bojan (17y 22d) as their youngest player in the competition.

Second Half

Semedo, having initially done well, dives in and clips him

Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved Marco Reus’ penalty, as Semedo, having initially done well to cover Jadon Sancho, clips him. Though there was a debate about the position of Barcelona goalie, while Reus was taking the penalty, VAR did not intervene.

The Germany international also denied Reus with a smart double save as Dortmund dominated the second half. Julian Brandt did beat Ter Stegen late on but his effort hit the bar.

Messi came on for 16-year-old sensation Ansu Fati in the 59th minute and played just over a half an hour. The Argentine wasn’t involved all that much in the game but did get a late free kick attempt that Dortmund defended well. Barca had just one shot on goal and completed 201 passes more than Dortmund, which recorded its third consecutive clean sheet.

Reus, as he prepares for the penalty kick

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