Borussia Dortmund and Sporting CP played out a dull goalless draw at the Westfalenstadion, sending the hosts into the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, where they will face either Aston Villa or LOSC Lille.
With Sporting needing something close to a miracle to go through, the absence of injured star striker Viktor Gyökeres was a big blow. On the other side, Niko Kovač had lost both of his Bundesliga games since taking charge and was hoping for a morale-boosting win, despite his team having done most of the hard work in Lisbon last week.
The nature of the tie meant the game started slowly, and it wasn’t until almost half an hour in that either goalkeeper was tested. Marcel Sabitzer, still looking for his first goal of the season, forced Rui Silva into a save. After scoring his first goal for BVB in the first leg, Pascal Groß nearly added another, but he couldn’t reach Karim Adeyemi’s clever pass. Serhou Guirassy then had a go, but Silva made a save, even though the ball had taken a slight deflection off Eduardo Quaresma.
Sporting had not managed a shot on target in the first half and were struggling to make an impact as their European hopes faded. Silva was keeping them in the game with some good saves early in the second half, first from Adeyemi and then from Daniel Svensson. However, the Real Betis loanee soon made a mistake, fouling Adeyemi in the box, but he redeemed himself by diving to his right to save Guirassy’s penalty.
Sporting substitute Alexandre Brito had a low shot that forced goalkeeper Gregor Kobel to make a save just after the hour mark, but it wasn’t a sign of a Sporting comeback. In fact, Dortmund should have gone ahead ten minutes later, when two substitutes combined. Maximilian Beier passed to Giovanni Reyna, but the American’s shot hit the post when he might have done better.
Dortmund thought they had taken the lead in the 72nd minute when Emre Can headed in a Julian Ryerson free-kick, but the goal was ruled out for offside. That was the last real action of the match, leaving Kovač still waiting for his first win at the Westfalenstadion as Dortmund saw out the game comfortably.
