Goals from Lukasz Piszczek and Axel Witsel fired Borussia Dortmund into the UEFA Champions League last 16 as Group F winners after coming from behind to beat Zenit St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
Deprived of a number of first-team regulars including Erling Haaland, Thomas Meunier and Manuel Akanji, Dortmund were somewhat sluggish in the first half and struggled to get into their rhythm. Zenit, already guaranteed to finish bottom of the group before this game, had nothing to lose and that added a certain freedom to their play. The hosts duly took the lead after 16 minutes when Sebastian Driussi’s shot took a deflection of Mats Hummels’ toe and beat Marwin Hitz at his near post. Dortmund almost equalised straight away, but Thorgan Hazard’s low drive was well saved by Mikhail Kerzhakov. BVB had their best chances of the half just before the interval, but Jude Bellingham headed over from close range and Marco Reus hit the post with a curling effort from the edge of the box.
Dortmund had Hitz to thank for keeping them in the game within seconds of the restart with a double save from Driussi. Zenit pushed for a second goal in those early stages, but momentum swung Dortmund’s way with the introduction of Gio Reyna and Youssoufa Moukoko on the hour mark, the latter making history as the competition’s youngest ever player. Needing a win to be guaranteed top spot in the group, BVB began to show greater incision going forward and pulled level when Piszczek prodded in from close range after a corner caused havoc in the Zenit penalty area. Jadon Sancho was also brought off the bench to provide further attacking thrust, and the substitution soon paid off when he teed up Witsel to sweep a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box against his former side and propel Dortmund into the last 16 as section winners.
