Just after Borussia Dortmund’s dirty night at the Santiago Bernabeu on Matchday 3 of the Champions League, Nuri Sahin took to the stage to point out everything that went wrong. While everyone is praising Vinicius Junior for his outstanding performance, the BVB coach is not forgetting Rodrygo.
Borussia Dortmund arrived in Madrid looking to create a sensation, but they left Carlo Ancelotti’s side with a humiliating defeat. Ahead at half-time thanks to two fine goals from Donyell Malen and Jamie Gittens in the first half, the Borussians went through hell in the second. Determined to avoid a repeat of the disastrous scenario ahead of this Saturday’s Clasico against Barça in La Liga, Real Madrid turned the game around thanks to an excellent Vinicius Junior (scorer of a hat-trick) and important goals from Rudiger and Lucas Vazquez.
While the spotlight has understandably fallen on Vinicius Junior, who clearly made his mark after his incredible performance, Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin has taken some criticism. For changing Gittens, one of his best attacking players, just at the start of the second half to strengthen his defence and defend with five men, the 36-year-old coach has been accused of upsetting the system and hurting his team, who saw nothing but fire for the rest of the game. In a press conference after the 5-2 defeat, Sahin refused to listen to the criticism.
“Rodrygo set us back a lot”
For the German club’s coach, the change of system or players was not the cause of the remonstrance. The former Real Madrid midfielder believes that Rodrygo Goes, who completed the attacking trio, caused his defence a lot of problems in the second half, hence Real Madrid’s virulent reaction.
“If you lose and concede five goals, of course you can say that (accusing him of plummeting the team with his tactical changes). The player changes didn’t work. However, I don’t think that’s down to the system or the player changes, it’s more to do with our inability to control the game. Rodrygo pulled us back a lot. We wanted to secure that area, but it didn’t work out,” said the Turkish coach, who also praised Vinicius’ big game.
Goes’ big game
As Nuri Sahin revealed, Rodrygo Goes, who came off injured at the end of the match, had a big game up front, as did Kylian Mbappé, who scored two assists. While Vini took all the limelight, Goes’ monstrous efforts should not be overlooked. Vazquez’s third goal came thanks in no small part to the 23-year-old, who made a great run to collect the ball as it spun out of play and then put it back into play.
Unfortunately, Carlo Ancelotti may not be able to count on his young player against Barcelona next Saturday in the clasico after his hamstring problem. The Madrid team, who have not been at the top of their game since the start of the season, will be keen to get this benchmark match off to a flying start.
Leave a Reply