Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Barcelona: Ter Stegen the hero in German stalemate

Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Barcelona: Ter Stegen the hero in German stalemate

Marc Andre Ter Stegen durante el partido entre el Borussia Dortmund y el FC Barcelona de Liga de Campeones, disputado en el Signal Iduna Park en Dortmund.
Marc Andre Ter Stegen durante el partido entre el Borussia Dortmund y el FC Barcelona correspondiente a la jornada 1 del Grupo F de la Liga de Campeones y disputado en el Signal Iduna Park en Dortmund. | Valentí ENRICH

The Germany goalkeeper impressed in his homeland

Barcelona had Marc-Andre ter Stegen to thank as they left Germany with a point after drawing 0-0 against a Borussia Dortmund side who were better on the night. 

MATCH FACTS
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

BORUSSIA DORTMUND

0 ________________ 0

FC BARCELONA

LINE UP

BORUSSIA DORTMUND

Burki, Hakimi, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro, Witsel, Delaney, Sancho, Reus, Hazard (Brandt, 73') y Alcácer (Bruun Larsen, 87').

FC BARCELONA

Ter Stegen, Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Jordi Alba (Sergi Roberto, 40'), Busquets (Rakitic, 58'), Arthur, Griezmann, Ansu Fati (Messi, 58') y Luis Suárez.

ÁRBITRO

Ovidiu Hategan (Rumanía). T.A.: Delaney (14'), ,T. Hazard (46')/Piqué (49'), Rakitic (69').

INCIDENCIAS

Partido correspondiente a la primera jornada de la fase de grupos de la Champions League 2019-2020 disputado en el Signal Iduna Park de Dortmund ante 66.099 espectadores.

Ter Stegen saved a second-half penalty from Germany teammate Marco Reus but that was just the tip of the iceberg. He also kept out Reus brilliantly in the first half and made a brilliant double save from the same player later in the game. 

If Julian Brandt's fine thumping effort had gone in -- it hit the bar -- the Barça goalkeeper would have rightly felt aggrieved to have lost his clean sheet. 

The performance was timely. Ter Stegen didn't play for his country during the recent international break. That led him to say it had been a "blow" not to feature against either the Netherlands or Northern Ireland. 

Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer -- who had played both of those games -- said Ter Stegen's comments weren't helpful for the national team. Ter Stegen responded on Monday, speaking before the Dortmund game, by saying that Neuer's remarks had been inappropriate. 

He pointed out that he has behaved impeccably while with German over the years and sought to draw an end to this issue. 

On Tuesday, he spoke on the pitch. Without him, Barca would have lost. 

Lionel Messi returned on the bench, with Ansu Fati joining Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann in attack. Other than Suarez's introduction in favour of Carles Perez, it was the same side which beat Valencia 5-2 at the weekend. 

Ansu became the youngest player to play for the club in the Champions League but that was the main talking point in the first half -- other than Ter Stegen keeping Reus out. 

Dortmund were much better after the break, even after Messi came on after an hour. He came on along with Ivan Rakitic as Ernesto Valverde made all his substitutes with 30 minutes to go -- Jordi Alba had previously been taken off with an injury.   

Reus should have won it from the spot when Nelson Semedo fouled the dangerous Jadon Sancho and he definitely should have won it when he was faced by Ter Stegen 10 minutes later. Ter Stegen saved the penalty, though, and then made a brilliant double save. 

This was his night. 

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