Champions League Power Rankings: PSG shine in matchweek 1
By James Dudko
26. Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund are another side who failed to live up to the billing in the first matchweek. In fact, the Bundesliga outfit looked a soft touch during a 3-1 defeat to Tottenham at Wembley.
The Germans edged possession for much of the opening exchanges. Yet they fatally lacked a cutting edge, despite the presence of star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
In fairness to Aubameyang, the Gabon international did see a goal incorrectly chalked off for offside, per James Wright of MailOnline. Dortmund were 2-1 down at the time, so were left count the heavy coast of the officials getting it wrong.
A bad decision aside, Aubameyang and his teammates didn’t do enough to put Spurs under pressure. There was a lack of pace and creativity from wide areas since the summer sale of Ousmane Dembele to Barcelona.
Meanwhile, play in the middle too often became congested as Nuri Sahin, Mahmoud Dahoud and Shinji Kagawa struggled to impose themselves.
Dortmund were superb to watch at times in last season’s Champions League. But now Thomas Tuchel has moved on, new manager Peter Bosz has a lot to do to replicate the same magic.