UEFA Champions League 2016-17: Borussia Dortmund 2-3 AS Monaco, 5 talking points
The first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals between Borussia Dortmund and Monaco which was played at the Signal Iduna Park proved to be an exciting affair laden with goals. It was the young French prodigy Kylian Mbappe who opened the scoring for the visitors in the 19th minute when he found the back of the net via a cross from the left side before Sven Bender headed one into his own goal in the 35th minute.
Dortmund, who looked rusty through the first half looked a better unit in the 2nd half and scored in the 57th minute via Ousmane Dembele. However, their hopes of securing a positive result were dashed by a brilliant goal from Mbappe in the 79th minute. While the die Schwarzgelben did score in the 84th minute via Kagawa, there was very little time left for them to eke out a positive result from the game.
Here are the 5 talking points from the game.
#1 Was the UEFA wrong in scheduling the match so soon?
One of the major talking points prior to the game was the decision of UEFA to get on with the game within 24 hours of the Borussia Dortmund bus being attacked. While thankfully none of the players endured any long term physical injuries, the trauma of being involved in something so horrific always has an effect on the players.
The Dortmund players looked jaded in the first half and needless to say many pundits and fans pointed out that the German club was at a disadvantage going into the game and questioned the decision of UEFA to ensure that the game is played so soon.
While the end of the season means that the footballing calendar gets hectic, both the teams would have been more than happy to reschedule the game for a later date after the events around Dortmund’s bus and we see no reason for why the UEFA could not have pushed the game further by a few days.