After every Champions League matchday, theScore highlights 10 marquee takeaways from Europe’s preeminent club competition.
Red-hot Hakimi saves Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund‘s midweek visit from Inter fits the profile of a match with starkly disparate halves. In the end, Moroccan full-back Achraf Hakimi was a big reason why the Germans were able to escape with three points.
Inter dominated the opening stanza with goals from Lautaro Martinez and Matias Vecino. Antonio Conte’s men were tearing the hosts to shreds, and Lucien Favre was looking on with a forlorn expression of a manager with no clue how to react.
But BVB came out of the break flying, deploying pacey wide attacks through the right-sided tandem of Hakimi and Jadon Sancho. Hakimi scored twice to give him four goals in Europe – tied for the fourth-highest haul in the tournament – and nabbed Man of the Match honors as Dortmund moved to second in Group F.
Sabitzer thriving under Nagelsmann
RB Leipzig are nearing their first-ever appearance in the knockout phase following a 2-0 win at Zenit St. Petersburg on Tuesday, and tactician Julian Nagelsmann merits heaps of praise for turning the burgeoning side into an attacking …read more