UEFA Champions League 2019/20, Borussia Dortmund 0-0 FC Barcelona: Hits and Flops
As everyone already knows, the UEFA Champions League is the most important trophy in club football. Barcelona started their quest to a sixth title with a trip to Dortmund, in a match that gave us many attacking highlights.
The match gave us a UCL debut for Ansu Fati, the return of Lionel Messi and a disasterclass from Marco Reus. The first half saw Barcelona orchestrate the first opening of the game as Gerard Pique's header anxiously flashed across the goal in the 13th minute.
In the 25th minute, at the opposing end, Reus was thwarted by Marc-Andre ter Stegen when through on goal.
The second half saw Marc-Andre ter Stegen save a penalty from the Dortmund captain in the 57th minute.
Minutes later, Julian Brandt would hit the crossbar with a stunning long range effort. After that, Reus would then sky a close range effort in the 75th minute, leaving the BVB faithful to rue their many missed chances.
Despite all the attacking talent on show, these two exciting teams couldn’t be separated in an end to end 0-0 draw.
Here are 5 hits and flops from Borussia Dortmund 0–0 Barcelona.
#5 Flop: Ansu Fati
Ansu Fati is officially the first 16-year-old to ever represent Barcelona in the Champions League. The fact he was even in the squad let alone starting XI is a great testament to his talent and recent performances. However, despite the momentous achievement, Ansu Fati had a night to forget in Germany.
The 16-year-old, understandably, looked lost and void of ideas on the flank. Perhaps, some of this could be attributed to the lacklustre nature of his teammates, but regularly, Fati looked like the weak link in a forward line with Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann.
Before getting substituted for Lionel Messi, the youngster completed 24 passes, two tackles, one successful take-on and attempted 1 shot in a performance he will remember as a true baptism of fire. With Lionel Messi back in the first team set up, we may only be seeing the youngster in substitute cameos from now on.
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