Champions League: Dortmund through despite Brugge bore draw

Borussia Dortmund 0 - 0 Club Brugge

The job is done but it really wasn’t pretty. For a side that hammered Atletico Madrid at Signal Iduna Park last month, this was an insipid display, but one that ensures they’ll be playing in the Champions League after Christmas.

Christian Pulisic should have given the hosts the lead early on. But the American, who has been a relatively peripheral part of Dortmund’s rise this season, struck his shot straight at compatriot Ethan Horvath in the Brugge goal.

Captain Marco Reus has been anything but peripheral this season and the Dortmund faithful must have been confident when their top scorer went clean through just after the half hour mark. But he too fluffed his lines, dragging his shot wide of the post.

The second half was even less of a spectacle, with Brugge remaining compact and umambitious despite needing to win to keep their hopes in this competition alive.

Even the introduction of Jadon Sancho, so often the man to make an impact from the bench, couldn’t provide the necessary spark.

Dortmund, so prolific in the Bundesliga are now without a goal in their last two Champions League games, but they are through. To have any chance of topping the group, BVB will need Atletico Madrid to slip up against Brugge in the final game of the group stage.

As it happened

FULL TIME: It comes to nothing and the referee does everyone a favor and calls time on this one. Our match report will be here any minute.

90+4 - A great run by Pulisic is ended when his cross is blocked beind for a corner. Last chance.

90+2 - Brugge make a double sub to waste a bit of time. Wesley and Vormer off for Openda and Decarli.

90' - Witsel limps off - hopefully a precaution from Dortmund's perspective - and is replaced by Delaney.

89' - Witsel is down clutchin his knee, he looked to land awkwardly after leaping for a header. Elsewhere, Schalke have halved the deficit to 2-1 against Porto. Nabil Bentaleb with the penalty.

87' - Dortmund almost punished there as Brugge work the ball to Vanaken on the edge of the box. He's got a yard but leans back and hits the crowd.

86' - Pulisic, who has grown in the game, shimmies and then finds Sancho. He drops a shoulder, lays it off to Alacacer who.... lobs it miles over with the outside of his boot. Decent build up but a dreadful finish.

84' - Sancho and Hakimi combine but the latter's cross is hacked clear. Dortmund's final ball has been very poor tonight.

80' - Another Dortmund sub: Hakimi on, Diallo off.

79' - Sancho, perhaps trying a bit too much to make things happen, has given the ball away twice already. This half has been worse than the first. And that was pretty bad.

76' - Brugge make a change now. Rits on for Bonaventure.

73' - Sancho enters the fray, replacing Guerreiro. Can the Englishman do it again?

70' - Reus gets to the byline on the right and hammers it across the face of goal but no-one can get a touch.

69' - Jadon Sancho looks to be preparing to come on. 

67' - Pulisic drives at the backline, spots the run of Reus and slips the ball between center back and full back. But the German is offside. Time for a change yet Lucien?

63' - Brugge have the ball for a spell in Dortmund's half, have no idea what to do with it and give it back.

61' - Favre probably wishes he had Alcacer on the bench rather than the pitch. But in Sancho, Bruun Larsen, Götze, Phlipp and Hakimi, he's got plenty of options remaining. It can't be long until he uses one.

59' - Meanwhile in Porto...

56' - Alcacer s in a promising position but fails to read Reus's intentions and plays the ball behind his skipper. Both those two have been slightly off-color tonight.

52' - Dennis tries to wriggle his way through on the left but Zagadou is having none of it. Over in Portugal, Porto have taken the lead against Schalke who are already through after Galatasary's loss earlier.

49' - Alcacer slips in Reus down the left edge of the six yard box but Mechele gets to the cutback before Pulisic. Diallo heads over from the corner. This is a decent start to the half from the home side.

47' - Alcacer, anonymous in the first half, picks one up on the edge of the box and fires at goal with his left foot. It takes a slight deflection, which removes any pace from the ball, and dribbles in to Horvath's arms.

46' - The second half is upon us. Let's hope for a little bit better.

HALF TIME: And that's the last action of the half. It wasn't the most entertaining 45 minutes you'll see but Dortmund should be ahead. They've had 75 per cent of the ball and both Reus and Pulisic have spurned excellent chances. Brugge have been compact but unambitious, we'll see if they can hold out after the break.

45' - Alcacer goes in to the book for a frustrated-looking tackle. Elsewhere, Liverpool have pulled one back against PSG, James Milner the scorer from the penalty spot.

43' - Dortmund work the ball left to Diallo, who crosses low towards Guerreiro at the front post. But Mechele tracks the run well and its bundled behind for a goal kick.

40' - Not much happening in this one but Thomas Tuchel is winning the battle of the German coaches in Paris. Liverpool in big danger of going out at the first hurdle. It's still 0-0 between Schalke and Porto.

36' - Dortmund continune to probe around the edge of the box but the flicks and tricks aren't quite coming off. Dahoud gets a bit bored of it all and tries from long range. But the shot is blocked.

32' - Big chance! Akanji wins a header, Alcacer fails to get much of a touch on it and suddenly Reus is clean through. He's got time and he's got form but somehow he drags it wide from about 12 yards out. That's two clear cut chances missed by the hosts so far.

29' - Brugge don't look like they are going to give too much away, even though they need a win to stand any chance of progression. But Dortmund must show a bit more invention than they have so far if they're going to break them down.

25' - Guerreiro overplays in his own half and it's worked to Amrabat in a decent position on the edge of the box. But the Brugge man slices it horribly wide.

22' - BVB continue to set up camp in the ten yards outside the Brugge penalty box but they can't quite pick the pass yet. The hosts have had 79 per cent of the ball so far.

18' - Horvath somehow manages to let a simple catch bounce off his chest and fly just wide of his post but Dortmund can't make much of the corner. The goal is coming though.

14' - Denswil goes in to the book after tripping Pulisic. Guerreiro lifts the freekick in but Horvath is out quickly to punch clear. Meanwhile in Paris...

10' - BIG CHANCE! Pulisic really should score here. Akanji lifted a lovely ball in to Reus who shinned it (deliberately I think) to Pulisic, in space eight yards out. But the winger hit it straight at the keeper and then fluffed the rebound. That was not a confident finish.

9' - Brugge break for the first time and Wesley almost gets his head to a whipped cross from the right. He was free there. 

7' - Sedate start here. Brugge are sitting deep and compact without the ball and much of it has been in the middle third so far.

3' - Pulisic has had a busy opening few minutes. The American was caught offside very early on and just got clipped on the halfway line while in the process of dribbling away from his man.

1' - We're off! That man Alcacer gets things underway.

20:55 - Worth remembering, with Dortmund as they are at the moment, that they only got 2 points in the group stage last season. That feels so long ago now.

20:50 - Both tonight’s early matches are now finished and there’s some excellent news for Schalke. The Royal Blues are in the knockout stages for the first time since 2015 courtesy of Lokomotiv Moscow’s 2-0 home win over Galatasary.

The other match was in Dortmund’s group, where Atletico Madrid eased past Monaco with another 2-0 win. That doesn’t change much for Dortmund at this stage, they still need a point tonight, but it could have a bearing on who tops the group.

20:45 - Hello, and welcome to the night where we'll surely see Borussia Dortmund join Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the Champions League. Dortmund's rivals Schalke could also make it through tonight, depending on other results and we'll keep you up to date with what's happening in Gelsenkirchen too.

Club Brugge are Belgian champions and are no mugs but with BVB unbeaten and top of the Bundesliga, it'd be a mjor shock if Dortmund didn't get the point they need to get the job done tonight. Lucien Favre's men were less convincing than they have been at times this season in the narrow victory over Mainz at the weekend and he'll want to see a little more conviction from his team tonight.

The Dortmund coach shuffles his pack for this one, with Christian Pulisic, Mahmoud Dahoud, Raphaël Guerreiro and the prolific Paco Alcacer all handed starts. Here are the teams.