Having won just three of their previous 20 UCL home games, Brugge were always set for a difficult battle against last season’s runners up. And a steep challenge almost became near-vertical in the fourth minute, when a ball in from the right flank found Donyell Malen at the far post.
He was caught in two minds whether to shoot or square, but a scuffed shot floated inches wide, before Karim Adeyemi tested Simon Mignolet from distance shortly afterwards.
And Dortmund nearly paid dearly for Malen’s miss, as a botched corner clearance saw the ball ping around their area before Gregor Kobel was forced into a point-blank save from Gustaf Nilsson’s snapshot, and Hugo Vetlesen rattled the crossbar despite being just three yards out.
Dortmund then retook control of proceedings, with Adeyemi being thwarted by Mignolet at the near post, before Maxim De Cuyper cut out a promising pass across the backline from Dortmund’s chief trouble maker.
After being denied a penalty, Christos Tzolis was more determined than anyone to make an impact immediately after the break – and that he nearly did, heading wide on the end of a promising cross from Joaquin Seys.
At the other end, Marcel Sabitzer fired low and only just wide from an indirect free-kick, raising expectations of an imminent breakthrough on a night of high tension in north-west Belgium.
Sensing a Champions League touchline debut there to be won, Sahin made a double switch, which included Serhou Guirassy in place of Malen.
But Brugge were not daunted, and a sweeping counter from the Blauw-Zwart saw Andreas Skov Olsen centre for Vetlesen to fire low, forcing Kobel into a save at full stretch despite the Norwegian not making the cleanest of connections.
Sometimes luck is simply on the side of those less deserving, and that would be proven in the 78th minute, as Emre Can’s ball from the edge of the box teed up Bynoe-Gittens on the left at a narrow angle. He fired at goal, and a deflection off Brandon Mechele took it into the net to stun Brugge.
Clearly not satisfied with that alone, Bynoe-Gittens then beat two defenders with a series of stepovers before firing low into the right-hand corner, ensuring that Dortmund’s ninth straight season of UCL involvement would start with a win.
As for Brugge, they’ve now lost six of their last 10 home matches against German opponents, with the result made all the more painful by a Guirassy penalty in the dying seconds – conceded after Mechele brought down the man himself – and the Guinean fired into the roof of Mignolet’s net to put extra spice on a night where superior finishing ultimately won out.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (Borussia Dortmund)
