Borussia Dortmund secured their first win in the current UEFA Champions League (UCL) league phase with a 4-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao, who are now winless in their last six games (D1, L5).
There was very little in the way of goalscoring action in the opening exchanges, with Marcel Sabitzer’s tame effort from the edge of the box being the only chance of note for either side. But Dortmund were the ones doing most of the probing, and struck first in the 28th minute through Daniel Svensson.
The Sweden international scored his first UCL goal with a precise first-time finish from Karim Adeyemi’s excellent ball across the box, after the latter was brilliantly played through down the right by Julian Ryerson.
Niko Kovac’s side were largely in control, as Niklas Sule had two shots in quick succession. The first was parried to safety by Unai Simon, before he dragged the second one wide.
It was solid without being spectacular for the Bundesliga side against a tentative Athletic team that were showing the scars of some recent poor results, prompting Ernesto Valverde to make a triple change at the break in a bid to add fresh impetus to his side.
However, Dortmund doubled their advantage just five minutes into the second half, thanks to Carney Chukwuemeka. The 21-year-old scored his first European goal at the end of a superb free-flowing move, making a jinking run down the left and seeing his shot beat Simon at his near post.
Two of Athletic’s half-time substitutes then combined to halve the deficit a minute past the hour mark in a defensive horror show from Dortmund’s perspective. Neither Sule nor Waldemar Anton could clear Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta's cross after a comedy of errors, and Gorka Guruzeta was on hand to punish their lackadaisical attempts with a clinical finish for his first UCL goal.
Soon after, Robert Navarro thought he had completed a remarkable turnaround with a beautiful dinked finish over Kobel, but was denied by the linesman’s flag.
Tension cascaded down the stands of Signal Iduna Park, especially when Navarro missed the target by a whisker, but Dortmund put the game out of sight in the 82nd minute when Marcel Sabitzer’s shot took a fortuitous deflection off Serhou Guirassy, who scored his 16th goal in his first 20 UCL appearance – a tally matched by Roberto Soldado and Ruud van Nistelrooy, and only bettered by Erling Haaland.
There was still time for Julian Brandt to add a fourth with a driven effort in stoppage time to round off an ultimately emphatic win for the hosts.
Dortmund have now lost only one of their previous 19 UCL home matches (12, D6), while this loss for Athletic means it is the first time they have lost four European matches in a row, after starting this UCL league phase with consecutive defeats.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Daniel Svensson (Borussia Dortmund)