UEFA Europa League – Half time review: Paris Saint Germain versus Borussia Dortmund
The match between PSG and Dortmund got under way at a ferocious pace as both the teams played box to box in the first half of the encounter. It was PSG who broke into attack first as in the 10th minute of the match,
the French giants got off a shot on Dortmund’s goal through their star midfielder Nene. However, the midfielder’s strike was not as vicious as it seemed at first and the Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper did well to hang onto it.
In the 14th minute of the match, PSG had another brilliant chance to open the scoring as this time Nene took the free kick which caused Dortmund’s goalie quite a lot of problems before he eventually gathered control
of the ball. Dortmund’s first exquisite move came at the 15th minute mark as their midfielders played a delightful one-two amongst themselves but the attack eventually broke down due to some organized defending by the home side. The
atmosphere at Parc de Princes stadium was absolutely ear splitting as PSG’s home support were at their loudest throughout the first half of the match.
PSG’s best chance to take the lead came in the 17th minute as their forward Erding miss directed his header over the cross bar even though he was clean through on goal without any tight marking around him. In the
21st minute of the match, PSG’s Luyindula became the first man to go into the referee’s book for his protests against the official’s decision to award a free kick to Dortmund inside their own half. Most of PSG’s attacks came through
their wingers which provided them width that allowed them to stretch Borussia’s defensive line.
This created space for the likes of Nene and Erding. In doing so, PSG controlled most of the possession in the first half of the match but Borussia did look dangerous every time they broke forward in attack. In the 30th minute
of the match, the ball fell to Bodmer for PSG just outside Dortmund’s penalty area. The ex-Lyon player unleashed a powerful shot but the drive was fantastically blocked by the German club’s defence.
In the 31st minute, PSG had another clear cut chance to get the opening goal as their forward Erding was played in by Luyindula but the centre forward failed to display his prolific streak as his shot went wide
of the target in the end. With the shot off target, it was a disappointing finish to an attractive move for the home side. Paris Saint Germain had a good succession of corner kicks toward the end of the first half but they failed to make the set pieces count
as most of them were headed away in an effective manner by the Borussia Dortmund defence. The first half ended with both the teams all level with the score line of nil all.
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