Borussia Dortmund’s U19s celebrated a 2-1 win against Newcastle United’s youngsters on Matchday 3 of the Youth League group stage. Julian Rijkhoff (12) and Samuel Bamba (53) had sent BVB on the road to victory before Sean Neave (74) ensured it would be an exciting finish to the game. With six points from three games, BVB are now second in Group F.

Borussia’s U19s dominated the away game at the Gateshead International Stadium. However, the team failed to reward themselves for their dominance in the first hour with a clear lead. And when Sean Neavy applied the finishing touch to the home side’s first meaningful attack, the team around captain Filippo Mane even had to worry about the three points.

Mike Tullberg had tactically chosen a back-three of Leo Posardas, Filippo Mane, Hendry Blank and a compact midfield line formed by Cole Campbell, Kjell Wätjen, Rafael Lubach, Danylo Krevsun and Jaden Korzynietz to deal with the aggressive pressing expected from Newcastle. The plan prepared by the coaching team was perfectly implemented by the team on the pitch. BVB determined the rhythm and tempo, actively controlled the game and put together some eye-catching passages of play.

Samuel Bamba had the first of many high-quality chances in just the second minute, when he was prevented from scoring at the last moment by Cathal Heffernan after a fine pass from Danylo Krevsun. The agile Bamba had another chance after Julian Rijkhoff found him with a one-two in the 10th minute, but the BVB striker hesitated too long. The chances continued to come for the away side: Danylo Krevsun fired wide from 10 metres in the 22nd minute, Newcastle goalkeeper Harris tipped Bamba’s shot on the turn over the bar after 36 minutes, and Cole Campbell was also denied by Harris with 38 minutes on the referee’s watch.

Mike Tullberg: “Implemented the plan wonderfully”

Julian Rijkhoff alone kept a cool head in the 12th minute to send the travelling Black and Yellow fans into raptures. After Hendry Blank won the ball in the midfield, Bamba beat his opponent Shahar and perfectly teed up Rijkhoff, who was lurking at the far post. At the other end, BVB did not allow their opponents to create any chances of their own. The Black and Yellows won duels and second balls, dominated the middle of the park, and the team were as impressive in defence as they were going forward.

Early in the second half, BVB came out with a similar level of confidence. After Danylo Krevsun jumped over the ball well well placed to score, Samuel Bamba crowned his strong performance with a goal to give BVB a long-overdue 2-0 lead in the 53rd minute. When Hendry Blank was replaced after one hour (he was also in the first team squad in the evening) and Tullberg had to shift his defensive line into a back-four with William Rashidi on the right and Jaden Korzynietz on the left, BVB let go of the reins a little. Bamba could have put the result beyond any doubt in the 76th minute, but he was again denied by Harris.

Newcastle came into the game much more, and after pulling one back, started a brilliant final offensive in an effort to earn a point, but thanks to the alert goalkeeper Robin Lisewski, BVB brought all three points home safely. In the closing stages which saw eight minutes of injury time played, Vicenzo Onofrietti had the chance to give BVB a third after a fine solo run, but his shot lacked the power to beat the keeper.

“The lads implemented our plan wonderfully, did a lot of things right for an hour and played excellent football. We could have scored seven or eight goals – in fact we should have. In the closing stages, we too came under pressure, because the opposition can play football too, and we wasted a lot of chances. We can all be proud after this game,” said an overjoyed Mike Tullberg in summary. (wiwi)

U19s: Lisewski – Posadas, Mane, Blank (Rashidi, 61) – Lubach, Wätjen (Onofrietti, 88) – Campbell (Diallo, 88), Krevsun, Korzynietz – Bamba (Herrmann, 77), Rijkhoff.