Bundesliga holders Borussia Dortmund cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League courtesy of a 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk that sent them through 5-2 on aggregate.
Jurgen Klopp's side may be off the pace in the domestic title race this season but it seems to have invigorated their European form, and they'll fancy their chances against anyone after qualifying from the toughest group of the lot and dispatching a strong Shakhtar side with consumate ease in the Westfalenstadion.
The away side began the game strongly as they looked to soak up and Dortmund pressure and employ counter attacking to exploit a defence missing flu-hit Mats Hummels. As such there was only one chance of note in the opening half hour when Mario Gotze sent Robert Lewandowski through only for the Pole to see his shot saved by Andriy Pyatov.
Any nerves for the home side were settled soon after though, as Brazilian defender Felipe Santana rose highest from a corner to head in the opening goal.
Shakhtar were impressive in the first leg but struggled to find a quick response to going behind and were 2-0 down just 6 minutes later. Lewandowski and Gotze combined once more, only this time it was the Pole who found the German and the Dotmund number 10 made no mistake with a clinical finish into the far corner.
This time the visitors did muster a response, with Fernandinho going close and forcing a fine save from Roman Weidenfeller just before the break.
They started the second half in similar fashion as substitute Douglas scuffed a great chance wide after being set up well by Luiz Adriano.
The Ukrainian champions were made to pay for their poor finishing just before the hour mark as Jakub Blaszczykowski exploited upon an error from Pyatov to make it 3-0.
0 comments:
Post a Comment