Injury-Time Defeat in Germany

17.09.2015 Krasnodar

Borussia Dortmund – FC Krasnodar – 2:1 (0:1)

Goals: Mamayev, 12 (Smolov, 0:1), Ginter, 45+1 (Park Joo-ho, 1:1), Park Joo-ho, 90+3 (Ginter, 2:1).

Borussia Dortmund (Germany): Weidenfeller, Ginter, Hummels, Papastathopoulos, Schmelzer (Kagawa, 46), Gündoğan, Park Joo-ho, Mkhitaryan, Castro (Weigl, 61), Januzaj, Aubameyang (Ramos, 72).

FC Krasnodar (Russia): Dykan, Petrov, Granqvist, Sigurðsson, Jędrzejczyk, Strandberg, Kaboré (Gazinskiy, 70), Ahmedov, Pereyra (Laborde, 60), Mamayev (Ari, 81), Smolov.

Yellow cards: Kagawa, 80 (attack breakdown), Gündoğan, 85 (foul play) – Kaboré, 8 (attack breakdown), Jędrzejczyk, 20 (foul play), Laborde, 73 (foul play).

Referees: Liany, Krasikow, Mozes, Reinshreiber, Masiah (all Israel).

17 September. Dortmund. BVB Stadion. Rain. 14 degrees. 55 200 spectators.

For the away match vs. Borussia Dortmund, which has remained undefeated this season, FC Krasnodar boss Oleg Kononov decided to saturate the midfield to the limit. Kaboré made the starting lineup for the very first time with Strandberg and Ahmedov joining him in the defensive midfield. At the same time Pereyra and Mamayev were called to act as inside forwards liberating the flanks for the wing-backs Petrov and Jędrzejczyk to support the attacking actions of the Bulls.

The home team immediately rushed to attack, accompanied with the rain. Still, the worst thing that happened to the Krasnodar players, who were displaying some confident defending in the first 10 minutes of the game, was an early yellow card received by Kaboré for the foul he committed in the midfield. But then the 12^th minute arrived, and it became the finest hour of the black-greens that showed their worth to the roaring Dortmund arena. Smolov received the ball on the left flank leaving Ginter behind easily and making a timely low cross alongside the goal-line, while Pavel Mamayev (celebrating his birthday, by the way) made a dash forward outdoing the two defenders of the opposition and sending the ball finely into the net of the most experienced Weidenfeller. Let us introduce ourselves, we are FC Krasnodar!

The stadium died down puzzled with what had just happened. Dortmund players were also confused somewhat for quite a while. Nevertheless, starting from the middle of the first half the eminent German team was finding their game slowly, so sharp chances began happening next to Dykan’s goal from time to time. On the 23^rd minute the shot by Schmelzer from within the penalty area was blocked by Sigurðsson; with 30 minutes of the game done Castro sent the ball into the sky from the most favorable position; and on the 33^rd minute FC Krasnodar keeper entered the game for the very first time outplaying Mkhitaryan in “close combat”.

Dykan produced another save on the 39^th minute when he parried the shot by Aubameyang who had targeted the first corner of the net. Immediately after that the visitors reminded of themselves with another sharp counterattack; Smolov lacked just a tiny bit to outrun Weidenfeller and send the ball into an empty goal.

In general the first half could have been considered a success for FC Krasnodar in both tactics and performance if it was to last exactly for 45 minutes. Unfortunately for the Bulls Mamayev sustained an injury just before the half-time, so he was aided by the doctors and Liany the Israeli ref added 2 minutes of the injury time as a result. Those were the ones that ensured the success of the home team. Park Joo-ho, a Korean player with Borussia, executed a cross from the left flank while Matthias Ginter left Petrov behind ultimately sending the ball into the net with a high jump header and vindicating himself at the same time for his personal not-so-good actions in the episode when FC Krasnodar scored an opener.

The game went on the same way after the half-time with mostly the German team controlling the ball. In the meantime the visitors displayed both confident and competent defending, and they would not also miss an opportunity to sting Die Schwarzgelben when they had the chance. The substitutes followed with both of the head coaches trying to refresh their players’ activity in attack above all.

With a game like that the real solid chances to score were very rare. On the 56^th minute Mkhitaryan missed the target with his bent shot. 10 minutes later Dykan was forced to display his skills again when he parried an aimed volley by Januzaj. The 75^th minute was marked with a shot by Gündoğan from a set piece, and once again the keeper of the Bulls was in the right place. A minute later Ramos, who had come in as a sub to Aubameyang, outplayed the Krasnodar goalkeeper sending the ball into the empty goal from an acute angle; it was the time now for Petrov to make things right, so the No. 98 of the black-greens made a heroic clearance of the ball on the very goal-line.

FC Krasnodar could have absolutely snatched the victory away. Thus Laborde broke through to the opposite end line rolling the ball to the corner of the goal area. Smolov however did not believe his partner and made no move forward missing a chance to shoot the ball into the goal that stood entirely undefended.

On the 88^th minute Dykan showed his firm grip when he neutralized a shot by Ginter. Still, the young right back of Borussia Dortmund was in no mood to stop and kept on with his vigorous flank activities. And once again the injury time became fatal for the Krasnodar team. When the 3^rd minute of the extra 4 added by the ref was done Ginter paid the debt back to his Korean partner making an assist himself this time. Park Joo-ho took a fall sending a bouncing ball with a header into the net of the Russian team, the act that drove the black and yellow stands into ecstasies.

1:2, and FC Krasnodar lost in Dortmund suffering a disappointing defeat but nevertheless displaying some quality performance against such a formidable opposition. Still, it is only a beginning for the black-greens in the UEFA Europa League. There are still five matches to play in the group, so let’s hope that the squad led by Oleg Kononov has already completed the most difficult one of this stage.