ARSENAL 1, BORUSSIA DORTMUND 2
Arsenal - Giroud 41’
Dortmund - Mkhitaryan 16’, Lewandowski 81’
Man of the Match - Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund)
LONDON // This was always a Uefa Champions League group that looked like it would be decided by the finest of margins. Halfway through, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli all sit on six points, while each has beaten one of the others and lost to one of the others.
If there is anything to separate them, it is that Arsenal have now played both their rivals at home and Dortmund both of theirs away.
It was not the classic many had expected, with neither side quite playing with the fluency of which they are capable.
Still, it was intriguing enough, an open game that yielded few clear chances, a match that kept threatening to bubble into something breathtaking without ever quite doing so.
Arsenal probably felt slightly hard done by, having weathered a Dortmund storm only to be picked off late by Robert Lewandowski.
Last Tuesday, the forward had a game to forget in London, missing a string of chances in Poland’s defeat to England. A week later, he was the hero.
Yet Dortmund did enough in the opening minutes of each half to think they merited the win.
Particularly in the first half, they chased Arsenal to distraction, while pinging the ball about with their familiar brio.
One of the effects of sustained possession is the pressure it puts on opponents; there seems to be a psychological impact in keeping the ball away from opponents for long periods that makes it more likely that they will make mistakes when they finally gain possession.
Marco Reus’s pass infield after 16 minutes went astray but, as is Dortmund’s wont, he followed up with a firm challenge, dispossessing a dithering Aaron Ramsey and forcing the ball to Lewandowski. He shuffled the ball to his right and Henrykh Mkhytarian drove a crisp shot past Wojciech Szczesny from the edge of the box.
At that stage, Dortmund were good value for their lead, but the longer the first half went on, the more Arsenal began to impose themselves. Many wilt under the pressure, but if teams can hang on, it does open up possibilities later in the match.
Even then, though, as Arsenal found, they pose a threat: they have pace throughout the team and when there is space that can be decisive.
It had taken a sprawling clearance off the line from Mats Hummels to keep out a Tomas Rosicky volley after 38 minutes, and three minutes later, Olivier Giroud levelled. Ramsey spread the ball for Bacary Sagna. He crossed, Neven Subotic missed it, and as Giroud bundled in, the ball bounced off Roman Weidenfeller’s thigh, dropping from the France forward to smash in.
The pattern was similar in the second half: an early Dortmund flurry, followed by Arsenal gradually gaining the upper hand. Santi Cazorla, on for the injured Jack Wilshere, hit a spectacular first-time strike against the angle of post and bar, but just as Arsenal seemed likely to take control, they were hit by a typical Dortmund break.
The tireless Kevin Grosskreutz, the symbol of the team as a former fan who now fills in wherever necessary, surged forward from right-back and swept a cross to the back post where Lewandowski swept in a controlled volley.
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