Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Sturm Graz: Three Takeaways from gritty win at the Westfalenstadion | OneFootball

Another matchday in the UEFA Champions League and you know what that means: more takeaways as I try to make sense of this silly yet magnificent football club. While just a week ago, the club’s outlook was grim, Nuri Sahin and his squad have been able to turn things around thanks to some stability from the dwindling pool of fit senior players, and the comfort of their home stadium.

On Tuesday, Borussia Dortmund hosted Sturm Graz in their fourth match of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, and this was a match that I expected BVB to win, even with an injury crisis. But as we all know, BVB is rarely straightforward, and frequently make their tasks more difficult than they need to be. I have little to critique in Sahin’s first-half plan; the Black and Yellows pressed well, produced a dozen shots and forced four saves. Julian Brandt was providing service to Serhou Guirassy, while Jamie Gittens and Maximilian Beier were both involved in their own attacking plays. At times, the style reminded me of Lucien Favre, when the play looked a bit too fancy, and the final touch was frequently missing.

The second-half didn’t look nearly as commanding from Dortmund, but they defended well and still managed plays into Sturm Graz’s half, though many of these opportunities looked far less threatening. Thankfully, Nuri Sahin made some minor tweaks to the lineup late in the second-half, with the fresh energy of Donyell Malen proving to be the difference maker. Now that leads me into my biggest takeaways from this win.