Borussia Dortmund belatedly sprung into life … only for their English youngster to suffer a moment of misfortune
E
very league needs its flagship, its clásico, classique or derby. An event which rouses the senses regardless of current form or fortune. Bayern Munich appeared ready for the moment and Borussia Dortmund perhaps less so. Despite itself, Der Klassiker eventually sparked into life – and we were left with a sense of what could have been.
The cliche describes a game of two halves; this was more like a game of one half. We had 45 minutes of an attack-v-defence training session, followed by the real match, the one that we came for. By then, perhaps, it was a little too late for the blue touchpaper to be lit. We were more in the realm of sparklers than catherine wheels.
By the end Harry Kane, having opened the scoring in that breeze of a first half with a breeze of a goal, nodding in simply from Joshua Kimmich’s corner, was playing like a midfield general, box to box, scrapping in front of his own defence as much as he attacked (and there was time for that latter clause too, as he expertly slipped in Luis Díaz on the flank to create a curious, ultimately decisive second goal for Michael Olise).
