There could hardly have been a better moment to score a first goal for a new club. New signing Felix Nmecha fired Borussia Dortmund to a 1-0 victory away to Newcastle United and back into contention for one of the top two spots in the so-called “Group of Death F” in the UEFA Champions League. Nmecha’s first goal handed BVB their first goal and first victory in the competition this season.

“You want to play these games as a footballer,” Nmecha later said in an interview with BVB TV and confirmed the reporter’s question as to whether he would watch his goal back several times over, grinning as he retorted “Perhaps a few times…”

Borussia Dortmund had already missed three gilt-edged chances beforehand and initially made the euphoric St. James’ Park quieter by the minute, but from around the 55th minute onwards it went from being a rain-soaked battle to a defensive one. “Both central defenders played an outstanding game and won extremely important challenges,” praised Edin Terzic. One of those victorious challenges directly led to Nmecha’s goal before the half-time break.

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“The first pattern that we see from Newcastle,” Terzic explained “is the low ball across the opponent’s back four. That’s where we wanted to be brave, that’s where we wanted to strike and win the ball back. It worked really well on five occasions. The action in front of goal was exactly what we wanted, to anticipate and draw out of position.” Schlotterbeck not only stopped a counter-attack by successfully winning a challenge with Gordon, but also initiated the goal. Terzic said: “The fact that Nico can also make an attacking impact, the fact he is not only important in winning the ball back but that he can also repeatedly initiate really good things offensively, is one of the reasons why he is so important for us. It was an outstanding piece of play from him.”

The ball winner and carrier described the decisive situation as follows: “He almost caught me on the wrong foot, because I first wanted to slide in but then stayed on my feet, played the ball to Marco and then had to make the run, because the cover was there for me. It was clear that Marco would play it back, my ball to Felix was a little bit untidy, but he did a great job.”

“It was an amazing game, it was end to end”

1-0 in Newcastle! Borussia Dortmund won a game away to an English team for the fifth time and have been the first German club to do so against the respective opposition on four occasions (West Ham United in 1966, Manchester United in 1997, Tottenham Hotspur in 2016 and Newcastle United now); only against Arsenal were Bayern two years quicker.

“It was an amazing game, it was end to end, the fans embraced it,” summarised Schlotterbeck, adding: “We did a really good job between us at the back.” The woodwork intervened twice, as did Greg Kobel on two occasions. Newcastle had slightly more of the chances in the end (5-4), but BVB totally deserved the victory – and the English fans recognised it too – based on the very strong first half. “Tidy,” was how Schlotterbeck described the half, saying: “We didn’t lose the ball as many times as usual.” But Newcastle, who are now level on points with BVB, had the upper hand in the final 30 minutes. In the lead-up, sporting director Sebastian Kehl had called for “a few points” from the double-header. If at least one more were to be added in the return fixture in 12 days’ time, Borussia would win the “head-to-head battle”, which is so important when it comes to final placements. “It’s all open again,” said Nico Schlotterbeck: “We now have a home game, the stadium will be on fire, we will produce a top performance and we want to beat Newcastle a second time.”
Boris Rupert