Draw enough for Dortmund to win Group D
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
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Borussia Dortmund 1-1 RSC Anderlecht
The home side reached the last 16 for the third year in a row despite Ciro Immobile's opener being cancelled out by Aleksandar Mitrović late on.
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• Dortmund into last 16 as Group D winners
• Man of the match Ciro Immobile gets opening goal (58)
• Aleksandar Mitrović salvages a point for the visitors late on (84)
• Third-placed Anderlecht into UEFA Europa League
• Round of 16 draw takes place in Nyon at 12.00CET on 15 December
Borussia Dortmund took top spot in Group D despite being pegged back to a draw by RSC Anderlecht.
Replenished with confidence after improving their domestic fortunes against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga at the weekend, Dortmund began with purpose and went close to a fourth-minute opener when Ciro Immobile was sent through only to see his fierce effort palmed away by Silvio Proto. Shinji Kagawa was unable to convert the rebound.
Anderlecht responded with an even better chance as Dennis Praet threaded an inviting ball through for Aleksandar Mitrović. However, a huge roar descended from the stands as Mitch Langerak, retaining his place in goal for the hosts in favour of regular custodian Roman Weidenfeller, rushed out to deny the Serbian.
From thereon the hosts retained control. Immobile had a cheeky near-post strike tipped over by Proto and the Belgian keeper again parried to stop Henrikh Mkhitaryan's effort after the Armenian had raced past Anthony Vanden Borre to latch onto a fine pass from Ílkay Gündoğan.
Still, with Arsenal FC comfortably beating Galatasaray AŞ in Turkey, Dortmund needed to make sure they did not fall behind both on the night and in the race for first place. They might well have done shortly before the interval, but Sacha Kljestan was unable to keep down his effort from a Mitrović knockdown.
The second half belonged to the hosts, though. Kagawa and Mkhitaryan each went close from similar positions inside the box within minutes of the restart and when Immobile fizzed another effort on target from the edge of the area, it seemed only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken.
The opening goal duly arrived on 58 minutes as Immobile's persistence finally paid off. The Italian controlled Nuri Şahin's pass before firing a clinical finish into the corner for his fourth goal in this season's competition.
The excellent Proto reacted well to beat away a fearsome volley from the former ACF Torino frontman. That enabled Mitrović to level matters with a late header, but the point was still enough to keep Dortmund's noses ahead of Arsenal.
