DORTMUND - Karim Adeyemi earned comparisons to the cartoon character Road Runner on Wednesday, after the speedy Borussia Dortmund forward left Chelsea’s British record signing Enzo Fernandez in the dust to score a brilliant solo goal in their 1-0 Champions League win.
Adeyemi broke from inside his own half and sprinted more than 60 metres before slotting home to give Dortmund the advantage in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
“Meep Meep! And then he goes,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzic told BT Sport when asked to describe the 21-year-old German international’s goal.
“This is the quality of Karim. It came from a (Chelsea) corner kick and we defended it quite well. It was a dangerous situation but then when you see his acceleration... his first touch was there to accelerate the game.
“If you are quick like this, then it is going to be very tough for every defence. It was a great goal and very important as it was the winning goal.”
Dortmund – who are on a seven-match winning streak in all competitions – travel to London for the return leg on March 7 and Jude Bellingham believes that, apart from the brilliance of the team’s attack, control and defence will be key to clinching the tie.
“We dominated the first half. They had chances but we were in control for the majority of the first half,” said the English midfielder.
“In the second half, we took the foot off the gas and they had more control. But we showed how well we can defend and see out games.”
Big-spending Chelsea’s inefficiency in front of goal has been an issue for the Premier League club this season and they have registered only one win in 2023.
They missed a number of good chances against Dortmund, including hitting the woodwork through Joao Felix, but failed to find an equaliser.
They looked sharper at the start of the game and Thiago Silva put the ball in the net after 16 minutes, but the Brazilian was penalised for a handball after he had tried to divert in a cross. Dortmund gradually found more space and hit the side netting through Sebastien Haller in the 27th minute.
The visitors, who spent £323.3 million (S$519.7 million) on transfers during the January transfer window to bring in eight players, responded with two big chances of their own, with Felix hitting the crossbar.
Both teams had to wait until the second half to get their first shots on target, with Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel punching a powerful Reece James free kick wide and his Chelsea counterpart, Kepa Arrizabalaga, stopping Julian Brandt’s low drive.
But with the Blues pushing for a goal and forcing another fine Kobel save, it was Dortmund who struck after 63 minutes with Adeyemi’s stunning goal.
“It’s a poor goal. We have to do better. We were pushing at the time and we were the better team,” said Chelsea manager Graham Potter.
“They (players) know they can do better. It isn’t easy to pick up the speed of the Champions League but I thought they did it well. We had three new players coming in and playing against a team in a good moment. We will improve.
“We will focus on the positives. It was another step forward for us.
“The spirit is there in the team. We need a bit of luck and the performance level we had tonight and just keep improving.
“It’s half-time, it’s a tight game and we’ll look forward to Stamford Bridge.”
The hosts had to survive late scares, with Kalidou Koulibaly’s shot cleared off the line by Emre Can and Kobel again denying Fernandez deep in stoppage time with a great save. REUTERS
