Borussia Dortmund hit three goals in the second half to beat AS Monaco to make it two wins out of two in the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League.

Monaco were the better side in the first half, without making it count, and substitute Jacob Brunn Larsen opened the scoring for the hosts just after half-time, before Paco Alcácer and Marco Reus pulled them out of sight.

They are joint top of Group A with Atlético Madrid, who beat Club Brugge 3-1 in their second match.

Story of the match

Compared to Dortmund’s recent rampant form in the Bundesliga, Monaco are in the bottom three in Ligue 1 having won just once all season. However they had the better of the first half. Moussa Sylla was bright and had a shot saved by Roman Bürki, who also dealt with two long-range efforts from Youri Tielemans, the second one an impressed effort headed for the top corner, which the goalkeeper had to fully stretch for to keep out.

The hosts by contrast were subdued. Alcácer, one of four players brought into the team, had the first notable chance after half-an-hour, a good strike that went just wide, possible via a deflection. Another player brought in, Marius Wolf, then had a shot turned wide excellently by Diego Benaglio, however the former VfL Wolfsburg keeper pulled something in the process and had to be replaced before half-time by the fit-again Danijel Subašić, who he had been covering for so far this campaign.

Lucien Favre turned to his bench to bring on Brunn Larsen for Wolf, a decision that would quickly prove a good one. It took confusion at the back between Benjamin Henrichs and Jamerson to instigate the move, which eventually led to Jadon Sancho playing a clever ball through a crowd of players to find Brunn Larsen, who eased the ball past Subašić.

Dortmund had their tails up, as Reus clipped a shot wide of the near post after a cross from Łukasz Piszczek and an Alcácer dummy. Their skipper then won a penalty as he was downed by Kamil Gilk, however Alcácer smashing the spot kick into the bar. Sancho then put an excellent chance over the bar, having down the hard work in beating Subašić, however shortly after he combined with Reus to find Alcácer, who put his penalty miss to one side to stab home a second goal.

Once their hosts got going Monaco created very little. Between the goals, Radamel Falcao had his one chance of the night, but his header was easy for Bürki to deal with. Substitute Samuel Grandsir side-footed an effort wide as well, whilst Bürki had another save to make late on from Tielemans. Then, to wrap things up, a Brunn Larsen cross found Reus on the far side of the box, and unmarked, he struck in to seal a 3-0 win.

Takeaways from the game

Substitutes provide impetus for Dortmund again

Under Favre, Dortmund have had trouble getting into games from the start and it has often taken reinforcements from the bench to get them going, as it did here with Brunn Larsen coming on at half-time. As good as having these options are, it must be frustration that whoever gets given a start can’t do it from the off.

It was the same against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. Dortmund just didn’t get going and were 2-0 down by the break, but the introductions of Mahmoud Dahoud, Sancho and Alcácer helped to turn the game completely around to earn a 4-2 win. Why this team are better at reacting to situations rather than take a game from the off is not clear, but they won't always be able to bank on their bench strength to win them games.

Sancho can’t be far from an England call-up

The 18-year-old Englishman, fresh from signing a new contract, put in another quality performance here, setting up the opening goal for his sixth assist of the season, whilst he played a part in the second as well and could have got himself on the scoresheet with the lob over Subašić. The relationship he is developing on the field with Reus is also very promising for Dortmund.

If Gareth Southgate hasn’t considering him for the England squad that is named on Thursday for the UEFA Nations League games in Croatia and Spain then something is wrong. Admittedly, it is hard to see where he’d fit into Southgate’s preferred 3-1-4-2 formation, much like Raheem Sterling, and he may wait to give him time to mature a little more – he cramped up after 80 minutes – but if he was doing what he’s doing in the Premier League, the clamour to get him in would be at maximum level.

Dortmund and Atlético in control of Group A

After going winless in an awful Champions League campaign last season, Dortmund are already well on the way to the knockout stages this year, having seen aside Brugge in their opening group game. They host 2014 and 2016 finalists Atlético later in the month, which will be a much tougher test, however with both teams on six points it seems likely at the moment they will be battling out for top spot in the group.

Monaco’s Champions League woes continue though. They have not won in the competition since beating Dortmund in the quarter-finals in 2017. Two summers where they have lost most of their key men from that run to the semi-finals is starting to tell both domestically and on the continent.

Stand-out players

As well as Sancho played, Reus was Dortmund’s best player here. He played his part in all three goals scoring the third himself, and seemed involved in everything good that they did. As for Monaco, Sylla, who like Sancho is just 18, was very impressive going forward during the first half and in time could be their next breakout star. Gilk was very solid in the defence for much of the game, but was guilty of conceding the penalty.

VAVEL Logo
About the author