Borussia Dortmund are firmly in the driving seat of their UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off tie after scoring three second-half goals in a 3-0 first-leg win away to Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday, edging them closer to a place in the last 16.
2024/2025 UEFA Champions League
0-3
Dortmund, in just their second game under new head coach Niko Kovač, were disciplined at the back in a cagey first half in which neither side appeared willing to risk too much.
Sporting had the best chance of the first 45 minutes when Maximiliano Araújo’s venomous drive from the edge of the box struck the crossbar.
Conrad Harder also had a powerful effort pawed away by Gregor Kobel, while at the other end of the pitch Dortmund went closest via Jamie Gittens’ sizzling low shot from 25 yards that swerved just wide of the post.
Serhou Guirassy was as his liveliest as the interval approached, firing wide from close range and having a penalty appeal waved away after being felled following a dart into the box.
The match followed a similar pattern early in the second half until a loose ball in the box fell kindly for Karim Adeyemi, whose low, first-time effort was well saved by goalkeeper Rui Silva.
That sparked Dortmund into life and just moments later former Mainz defender Jeremiah St. Juste made a last-gasp tackle to prevent Adeyemi getting a shot away and Gittens also had an effort blocked.
There was no stopping a brilliant, looping Guirassy header back across goal and into the net from a pinpoint Julian Brandt cross, however, giving Kovač's charges the lead.
Guirassy turned provider a short while later, delivering a carbon copy of Brandt's right-wing cross for Pascal Groß to tap in at the back post.
Adeyemi scored a potentially decisive third goal late on, sliding in to finish another cross from Brandt to leave Kovač's charges on the cusp of a place in the round of 16.
Line-ups
Sporting CP XI: Rui Silva, Matheus Reis, Jerry St. Juste, Trincão, Maxi Araújo, Zeno Debast, Ousmane Diomande, Iván Fresneda, Conrad Harder, João Simões, Geovany Quenda
Subs: Ricardo Esgaio, Viktor Gyökeres, Hidemasa Morita, Franco Israel, Daniel Bragança, Eduardo Quaresma, Gonçalo Inácio, Biel, Afonso Moreira, Lucas Anjos, Diego Callai, Alexandre Brito
Dortmund XI: Gross, Sabitzer, Emre Can, Brandt, Guirassy, Kobel, Ryerson, Adeyemi, Schlotterbeck, Daniel Svensson, Gittens
Subs: Meyer, Sule, Anton, Özcan, Reyna, Marcel Lotka, Beier, Yan Couto, Chukwuemeka, Duranville