Well that was rubbish from Dortmund but that was sensational from Juve and Tevez. And no one can argue that they do not deserve to go through. The Italians, even without Pirlo and Pogba, were imperious and did not put a foot wrong all night. No one will fancy playing them in the next round. Thanks for all the emails and tweets and comments. Night! Night!
Full-time: Dortmund 0-3 Juventus (1-5 on agg)
That’s your lot.
90 mins Just one minute of added time.
89 mins He’s back up and A-OK folks. He just hurt it a little going down for the ball.
88 mins There will, baring minor miracles, be Dortmund in Europe next season. That’s kind of sad. Bonucci is down and seems to be in some pain. Not quite clear what has happened to him. He is holding his shoulder though.
86 mins Uh oh! Someone has missed a penalty over in Barcelona. Scott Murray has the latest.
Dortmund are all over the place, but this is one of the best European away performances I've seen for ages from Juve, just brilliant
— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) March 18, 2015
84 mins “Where would Klopp go?” asks Mark Judd. “Man City, Arsenal, Sunderland, Hartlepool? I quite like the idea that he could rock up at Hartlepool.” Jeff Stelling would too.
82 mins One more thing re that goal. As good as the strike was, Weidenfeller was beaten at his near post. Tut, tut. Cardinal sin and all that. Tevez is given a break and replaced by Pepe.
Another counter, another Juve goal. This time it was Pereyra who fed Tevez – Pereyra had picked the ball up in his own half and managed to power past a host of yellow-clad players – as he scampered through the Dortmund defence. The Argentine took a wonderful first touch before putting his foot through the ball and putting the ball into the net.
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GOAL!!! Dortmund 0-3 Juventus (Tevez 79; 1-5 on agg)
His second of the night.
3 - For the first time in his career, Carlos Tévez has been directly involved in 3 goals in a #UCL game (2 scored + 1 assist). Apache.
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) March 18, 2015
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78 mins Morata goes and is replaced by Matri. Back in the action. A long, angled ball is sent into the box and an unmarked Ramos gets his head on it bur Buffon saves easily enough, though Chiellini cleans it up for him.
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76 mins In all this talk of how poor Dortmund have been, what should not be missed is that this has been an excellent performance from Juve. They got their tactics spot on and could even absorb the loss of Pogba without missing a beat.
74 mins So how about the future of Reus and Klopp then?
72 mins A frustrated Reus takes down Marchisio. His name is the first to go in the book. But it is not for the foul. It is for the back chat that followed.
If any team were going to score it was going to be Juventus. The Dortmund defence is ridiculously high – yet! again! – and a simple ball clipped over the top by Marchisio has them looking very silly indeed. Tevez ran onto that clipped pass and ran towards goal. Once inside the box and face to face with Weidenfeller, he unselfishly squared the ball for Morata, who could not miss in front of an open goal from a few yards out.
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GOAL!!! Dortmund 0-2 Juventus (Morata 70; 1-4 on agg)
Game. Over.
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68 mins Subotic blasts one from way out and it is deflected wide for a corner. That is sent over by Reus and Buffon would have come to claim it had he not been impeded by Papastathopoulos. He has been comfortably brilliant tonight. Buffon that is. Not Papastathopoulos. Definitely not Papastathopoulos.
66 mins Papastathopoulos has just tried to control the ball but instead it has dribbled out for a throw to Juve. That, by my reckoning, is about the fourth or fifth time he has done that this evening. Moments later, Gundogan does something similar. Deary me.
64 mins Klopp makes a double substitution. Ramos and Blaszczykowski come on. Bender and the anonymous Mkhitaryan go off.
62 mins Reus feeds Papastathopoulos wide on the left. He looks to find Aubameyang. He finds Chiellini, who was one of three Juve defenders in the box. How on Earth did he expect his forward to do something there? Meanwhile, Dortmund finally get a shot on goal via Kampl. It’s a routine safe for Buffon but the fans get very excited by it.
60 mins Dortmund are showing none of their usual intensity and no sign that they can do anything that will change the complexion of this game. They have been tactically out-thought and physically out-fought so far. This is very poor from them. Ramos is about to come on, by the way.
58 mins Time for Kagawa and Immobile, no?
56 mins Now it is Pereyra’s turn to run at the Dortmund back line that continue to be far too high up the pitch. He gallops down the inside right channel before slipping the ball to Morata on his right. The striker aims one at goal but Weidenfeller and his feet come to the rescue again with another fine save.
54 mins Kirch powers his way up the centre and past a few Juve players before being introduced to the turf. Reus takes the resulting free-kick, swinging it in from right to left. Hummels rises at the back post but Dortmund are done for offside.
52 mins After that effort, the Italians got a series of corners but Dortmund were able to deal with them easily enough.
51 mins For a moment or two, Dortmund were putting some good pressure on the Juve goal but once more more failed to do anything dangerous with it. Juve regain possession and Tevez counters in the open space. He feeds Morata, inside the box, and he looks to do one past Weidenfeller but the keeper stands tall and keeps his side in the game. Good save that.
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49 mins This is a scrappy affair right about now. Dortmund have the ball, ping a pass or two and then lose it. Juve then repeat the process.
47 mins Nothing happening here so far. Presume Schmelzer was injured in the first half but no news to confirm that just yet. Will keep you posted.
45 mins Back we come. With one change for Dortmund. Kirch replaces Schmelzer. Juve get us going. They play right to left in this half.
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Mark Judd has a suggestion. “Shinji Kagawa has to come on for the second-half, he can unlock the Juve defence, and I’ve told my daughter she can marry him. She speaks fluent Japanese and lives in Japan so they are made for each other.”
Almost time to get back out there. But what does Klopp need to do to save his and Dortmund’s season? Well they could stop playing the ball through the middle so much. Juventus are packing that part of the pitch and this making it very difficult to get any joy there. There is a decent whack of space out wide and they need to exploit this. With Juve sitting deep, Aubameyang has hardly had a look in so maybe it is time to give Immobile a try. He has more experience playing with his back to goal against an Italian defence. Give Reus a good shake too, just to make sure he is awake. Any other suggestions?
Half-time: Dortmund 0-1 Juventus (1-3 on agg)
And that is your lot for now. Klopp is not happy, the home players are not happy and the fans are not happy. The final whistle was accompanied by a couple of jeers from the stands. Juventus and Massimiliano Allegri will cat with cream like. Back in a a few minutes folks.
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45 mins There will be one more minute until Klopp can rip his side a new one.
44 mins “Hello, Ian,” cheers Jim McKendrick in Vancouver. “First: Laws of physics neither cause nor prevent the ball from doing anything. They explain why it does what it does. Second: If the ball gathers speed after being struck, the laws of physics demand that something else be causing additional (additional and subsequent to the kick) to explain the otherwise unexpected acceleration.”
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42 mins The camera has cut to Klopp on the sideline. He looks a bit like Poyet did last weekend when the 4th goal went in. A bit. Not totally. That would just be weird.
40 mins Juve play keep ball. Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass. Then they move down the right. Lichtsteiner takes a throw. He tries a one two with Vidal but Schmelzer reads his intentions and steps in to whack it clear. “Boom!” went his boot.
38 mins Aubameyang tries one through a crowded box from an awkward angle. As you would expect, it comes to nothing.
36 mins The last few minutes have seen Dortmund lay siege to the Juve box without really threatening Buffon’s goal but Tevez relieves that pressure momentarily with a dribble down the left-hand side. Around the half-way line, he stops and looks to find Morata but finds he is surrounded by a sea of yellow shirts. That is the moment the move comes to an end.
34 mins There has been a goal in the game between City and Barça. Click here and Scott Murray will type you through that.
32 mins Morata is penalised for a foul on Papastathopoulos. It is wide on the right. Schmelzer whips it in with pace and Hummels has a shot blocked by Barzagli. The result is a corner on the left. Kampl takes it again but this time a fabulous defending header from Chiellini sees the ball to relative safety.
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30 mins And now it is a corner to Dortmund, after a Bonucci interception. Kampl takes it and Buffon deals with it. Just heard Aubameyang’s name been mentioned there. Had forgotten he was even on the pitch. With Juve defending so deep, he has not had the space he would like to run into and attack.
28 mins Barzagli comes on to replace Pogba, who hobbles his way to the dressing-room.
26 mins Corner to Juve but it’s delayed as Pogba goes to ground. He hurt himself a moment or two ago going into a challenge and won’t be able to continue. It looks like hamstring knack. It is indeed hamstring knack. He limps off and the corner is cleared to the edge of the box. It meets the boot of Vidal who launches one into row Z.
24 mins “Just like a striker can’t hang in the air,” pedants David French, “the laws of physics prevent a ball from gathering speed once struck.” Calling all science geeks folks. Is David right?
22 mins Vidal does another foul. This time on Reus. He adds a kick-out for good luck. And yet he escapes without a yellow. It’s a free to Dortmund anyway, near the corner flag on the left. Reus stands over it once again. That last one was too short but this one is too long. Buffon collects at the back post.
20 mins Vidal bundles Schmelzer to the ground at the corner of the Juventus box. The referee has a stern word with him. His next challenge will lead a yellow. Reus stands over the ball. He floats it in but he fails to beat the first man. Poor from Reus that.
18 mins It’s still 0-0 in the other game by the way, though it looks like City have survived a few scares already.
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16 mins And now it is Lichtsteiner’s turn to try his luck from distance. This one, unlike the Tevez one, comes from the right but again like the Tevez one, it causes a slow-footed Weidenfeller a host of problems. He manages to punch it too safety, just about. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
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14 mins Dortmund pass their way around the back and the ball finds its way to the feet of Schmelzer. He looks up and despite no player decked in yellow, he decides to lob the ball towards the Juve goal anyway. Buffon picks it up as he would a penny for luck. What a waste.
12 mins Vidal clears down the right and finds Morata. Into the space he runs but as he looks to bear down on goals, sometime defender and full-time model Hummels comes to the rescue with a very decent tackle that stops Morata in his tracks.
10 mins In possibly any other ground around the world, a goal like that coming that early would really knock the stomach out of the fans but it seems they have got even louder (if that is possible) since it went in. Meanwhile, down on the pitch, things are a bit scrappy with neither side getting into their rhythm just yet.
8 mins ... eh, no. Buffon comes and punches it into outer space.
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7 mins Dortmund enjoy a decent spell of pressure and win the game’s first corner. Can they do something with this?
5 mins Back to the goal for a second. From that far out and with Tevez obviously shaping to shoot, Weidenfeller should have done much better. It was on his right and he only had to move two yards to the right. Far too slow on his feet. He is their weak link on a regular basis.
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What a start indeed. Morata had broke through the middle and fed Tevez out wide. The Argentine tried to put the ball in the mixer but Subotic swopped and swept the ball away. Not far enough however as Juve kept the pressure on the Dortmund goal. Tevez got the ball about 25 yards and decided to chance his arm. He struck and saw the ball, gather speed and fly into the top corner of Weidenfeller’s net.
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GOAL!!! Dortmund 0-1 Juventus (Tevez, 3) (1-3 on agg)
What a start for Juventus.
2 mins Gerald Moore is not feeling too confident about this one. “I am dreading this one, just dreading it,” he frets. “In fact, I’m tempted not to watch. Bonucci will give away a lazy goal on ten minutes. Dortmund will go three up and Max will sub on Padion or Coman with three minutes to go. Buerk. I really hope Dortmund are shit, though that said, the worse the opposition, the worse we play. At least liability Pirlo’s not playing.” No need for you to fret though Gerald because ...
1 min This is it, as Ryan Adams once crooned. Dortmund are dressed in their sun yellow. Juventus are in their Notts County black and white. The home side get us going and they will play in a right to left direction for the opening 45 minutes. The noise really is something else.
Right so. It’s almost time to go. The teams have emerged from the dressing room, the spit has emerged from their mouths and that silly anthem has emerged from the speakers. The Westfalenstadion looks and absolutely sounds immense, as the fans unveil a whopping banner dedicated to their 1997 Champions League win over today’s enemy. Almost there.
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“Evening Ian,” cheers John Mc Enerney. “How the mighty have fallen, sad state of affairs that only one Serie A side is left in the competition. At least Juve are the best of a very bad bunch, they’ve got a great balance of youth & experience plus they’ve got some top quality in their line up & on the bench. BD will have a real go at them it won’t be enough. Klopp needs to get out of Germany & take on a bigger challenge & with this season’s poor showing he may be shown the door. Juve to go through!”
Guardiola talking Borussia Dortmund on Sky ITA using term u rarely hear in England: "They attack space like beasts, like animals."
— Gabriele Marcotti (@Marcotti) March 18, 2015
Anyone out there? Anyone got any predictions? Come on. Let’s be having you.
A retro cut for all you Dortmund cats out there in internet land.
Fret not Juventus fanatics! We haven’t forgotten about you.
Dramatis personae
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller; Papastathopoulos, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer; Bender, Gundogan; Kampl, Mkhitaryan, Reus; Aubameyang. Subs: Langerak, Kehl, Kagawa, Blaszczykowski, Kirch, Immobile, Ramos.
Juventus: Buffon; *Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Chiellini, Evra; *Vidal, Marchisio, *Pogba; *Pereyra; *Morata, Tevez. Subs: Storari, Ogbonna, Barzagli, Pepe, Padoin, Llorente, Matri.
* Misses next match if booked
Referee: Milorad Mazic (Serbia)
Good evening
It is an inevitable part of the cycle of resistance, all things must conclude. Take the analogy of a tree that grows in Brooklyn, among the steel and the concrete with all its glorious branches and leaves, one day it too will pass on. Or take the team from the steel and the concrete of the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund. One day, its current incarnation will pass on too. Is today going to be that day?
That’s a touch dramatic. Or is it? Maybe there is a point there hidden under the Jay-Z reference and the hyperbole. This is a season-defining game for Dortmund. There is about as much chance of them winning the league as there is Margaret Thatcher of rising from the dead dressed in a denim jacket and a hoody, growing dreadlocks, getting her entire sleeve done in sailor tattoos (as well as an ice-cream cone on her face) and going to work in a soup kitchen while she saves up her money from her ukulele gigs, performed in a cafe off Brick Lane, to start a charity designed to help homeless people find a decent place to sleep at night. So that’s that out the window. But what about the DFB-Pokal you scream? They are in the semi-finals of once they beat Hoffenheim, a team they have already done one on this season, you add. The DFB-Pokal? Are you joking? You think anyone gives two flying ones about the DFB-Pokal? And don’t even come with that DFL-Supercup chat. That don’t count neither.
So you see, they just have the big-earred Big Cup if they want to come away from this season with anything but nothing. Come away with nothing, having had a dreadful domestic season, and some people might just ruminate on their futures. Dortmund hearts Marco Reus and Marco Reus hearts Dortmund but all things must conclude. Dortmund hearts Jürgen Klopp and Jürgen Klopp hearts Dortmund but all things must conclude. Things conclude and heads get turned a lot easier when success doesn’t live there anymore. Hence the earlier hyperbole. This is going to be a huge one for Klopp and co and he knows it. “It is one of the biggest challenges in football: we need a win against an Italian side who need only a draw. We are completely ready. We conceded on the counterattack in Turin, but they also had other chances in the second half. They are incredibly experienced, very clever; but not unbeatable. We have to keep our cool. A 1-0 win would see us through, after all.”
He’s right. They do just need a goal. The first leg of this tie ended 2-1 to Juventus. Carlos Tevez had gives the Italians the lead but Dortmund soon levelled through Reus, helped as he was by Giorgio Chiellini’s best impersonation of Steven Gerrard. Álvaro Morata restored Juve’s lead but no one could extend it, thus leaving the tie on the edge of a knife. Juve are bossing Serie A right now. They are 14 points clear of Roma. They have picked up seven wins and 24 points from their last ten games. Think about that. That’s no defeats in their last ten league games. They scored 19, let in only six and kept five clean sheets during that period. And Massimiliano Allegri was sounding suitably bullish in his pre-match presser. “Having a 2-1 lead is certainly not a disadvantage. We know how difficult it will be to go through though but BVB know about our quality ... We can take the first leg as our foundations – it was a more than decent performance. So far we can be pleased with what we have done.”
He says pleased but he won’t be. Letting Dortmund score away from home (and in the sort of way that would have Nereo Rocco spinning in his grave) will have infuriated him, even if it was against the brilliant Reus. He is brilliant, isn’t he? He can pass beautifully, he can set them up for team-mates, he is strong and quick and he is so calm and composed in front of goal. Make no mistake about it folks, your kids and the kids of your kids and the kids of your kids’ kids are going to ask you about watching Reus. You’ll be wearing your house shoes, your wine cardigan and a comfortable pair of slacks and you’ll sit them on your lap and smile and a tear will run down your cheek as you remember the days you changed form a hipster to a nu-lad and and just how good he was. Stop him and the 80,00 fans roaring him on and Juve have a chance of making only their second Champions League quarter-final since 2006. He is the key.
Given what is on offer and the quality of these two sides (we haven’t even had a chance to mention the likes – and greatness – of Paul Pogba and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang yet and we are over 800 words deep in the preamble already), this is going to be an absolute belter of a game. Don’t bother with that Man City nonsense. That’s over and done with. Be hip, be cool, be here. Team news and all that funky jazz is coming your way. Woop! Woop!
Kick off: 8.45pm back in Dortmund, 8.45pm in Turin, 7.45pm here in London.
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