BORUSSIA DORTMUND CLAIMED their first win of the Champions League group stage this season after battling to a 2-0 victory away to Slavia Prague.
Achraf Hakimi struck in each half to settle a scrappy encounter in the Czech Republic and move Dortmund top of Group F ahead of Barcelona’s meeting with Inter.
The brilliance of Marc-Andre ter Stegen mostly kept Dortmund frustrated against Barca in their opening match, but Wednesday’s performance was more in keeping with recent Bundesliga draws with Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen, in which they surrendered leads to draw 2-2.
Jadon Sancho tested Ondrej Kolar within two minutes of kick-off as Dortmund made a bright start in front of Slavia fans bedecked in red and white rain ponchos to create an intimidating sight.
They were silenced 10 minutes before the break, though, when Achraf started a counter-attack from his own box, combined with Julian Brandt and, having skipped away from goalkeeper and covering defenders, fired high into the Slavia net.
Sancho’s heavy touch made a mess of a one-on-one after the restart, as Dortmund’s performance soon descended into the erratic, with one particularly careless Marco Reus clearance giving Petr Sevcik a chance he should have done better with.
Achraf was denied by Kolar on the break as Slavia pushed for an equaliser, but the Real Madrid loanee made no mistake with his next opening, firing between the legs of the keeper with his left foot with barely a minute of normal time left.
Meanwhile, Napoli wasted a number of opportunities as they played out a goalless draw with Genk in tonight’s Champions League clash at Luminus Arena.
The Italian visitors beat reigning European champions Liverpool 2-0 in their Group E opener last month but could not build on that win in Belgium.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men hit the frame of the goal three times in the first half and Kalidou Koulibaly also went close as Genk held on for their first point, two weeks on from being thrashed 6-2 by Salzburg.
Arkadiusz Milik, in particular, was guilty of spurning big chances for a Napoli side who top the group with four points, though Liverpool and Salzburg have a game in hand to play.
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