Late Malen strike enough as Dortmund beat Sturm Graz in Champions League
The visitors, who had lost all three of their previous games in the league phase, were perhaps lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch when Emanuel Aiwu bizarrely pushed Jamie Gittens in the face just seconds after kick-off.
However, the VAR team decided that the centre-back had no case to answer, with the Englishman OK to continue after receiving treatment.
When play resumed, Dortmund - who had earned six points from the first nine on offer in the competition this season - set about penning their opponents in their own half, and Marcel Sabitzer should have at least hit the target on six minutes, but instead nodded wide from Pascal Gross’ inviting cross.
Sturm goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen then made a sharp double save from Sabitzer and Maximilian Beier before Otar Kiteishvili’s 20-yard effort was well held by Alexander Meyer at the other end.
For all Dortmund’s territorial dominance though, their final ball was often lacking, leaving Scherpen with relatively little to do before the break, and when they did have a decent chance late in the first half, Kiteishvili got back on his goalline to thwart Beier.
Understandably given the significant injury issues in his squad and the consequent youthfulness of his bench, Nuri Sahin opted not to make any changes at half-time, but the Dortmund boss would have been expecting his talisman Serhou Guirassy to show more awareness as he had the ball nipped off his toes in a promising position by Dimitri Lavalee, who then blocked Sabitzer’s follow-up.
On 57 minutes, centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck’s swerving drive was parried away by Scherpen, but that was one of relatively few moments when Dortmund looked massively threatening.
It felt inevitable therefore that Sahin would introduce fresh legs, introducing Donyell Malen in place of Sabitzer on 68 minutes.
As full-time ticked closer, Sturm, featuring wonderfully composed 18-year-old Malick Yalcouye in midfield, must have started to believe that they could spring a surprise, and Mika Biereth had a golden opportunity to do just that but headed off target from point-blank range.
Dortmund were getting increasingly desperate, with Malen failing to make a clean connection with Guirassy’s cross as Sturm looked set to grind out a famous draw.
Malen did, however, deliver the hammer blow on 85 minutes, firing across Scherpen and into his bottom right-hand corner after Aiwu gave away possession sloppily.
The late winner means that Dortmund have now scored in seven straight UCL encounters at Signal Iduna Park, but they don’t have long to celebrate as Mainz await in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Sturm, meanwhile, are top of the Austrian Bundesliga and travel to Hartberg the same day.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Malick Yalcouye (SK Sturm Graz)
