Europa League: Insipid Dortmund out of Europe

RB Salzburg 0-0 Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Arena Salzburg
(Salzburg win 2-1 on agg.)

The wheels finally came off Borussia Dortmund's calamitous season in Europe after an aggregate defeat by Austrian champions RB Salzburg, who deservedly go into the draw for the quarterfinals.

Dortmund ultimately paid the price for an abject first leg performance, but in truth they were miserable in both legs. They were outfought and outthought in Dortmund, and Salzburg's greater hunger to progress showed over the two legs.

Roman Bürki, much maligned for his performances this season, was Dortmund's savior in the first half, pulling off a string of fine saves from Xaver Schalger and Hee-Chan Hwang to keep out a lively Salzburg team who, from the opening minute, offered exactly what Peter Stöger had promised from Dortmund: positivity.

Dortmund improved after the break and started to throw everything at Salzburg as they grew increasingly desperate for a foothold in the game. Michy Batshuayi, isolated for long periods, went close in the 70th minute with an early shot, but Alexander Walke was equal to it.

Dortmund offered little to trouble Salzburg as Stöger endured a torturous return to his homeland. In fact, Dortmund were lucky not to leave Austria defeated on the night, with only the crossbar denying Salzburg's Munar Dabbur in added time.

There were whistles and jeers from the Dortmund end at full time, as the Bundesliga side trudged off after yet another humbling defeat to add to their list of failures in Europe this season.

For Salzburg, there were scenes of jubilation as the Red Bull club became the first Austrian club to venture this far into the competition. For Dortmund, it's yet another embarrassment in this most turbulent of seasons.

As it happened:

Red Bull Salzburg 0 - 0 Borussia Dortmund (2-1 on aggregate)

Fulltime

90+2 Dabbur with a golden opportunity to make it 1-0! But his shot hits the crossbar.

90+1 Sammesekou goes into the book as well.

90' Three minutes of added time to be played.

89' BVB's Zagadou goes into the book, apparently for dissent. Quite unrelated to that, the Salzburg fans are up singing, celebrating their team advancing to the quarterfinals of the Europa League.

85' Sokratis wins a physical battle with Ulmer in the BVB area. The Salzburger wants a penalty, but he's denied it. He went down quite theatrically and the way M. Bastien has been calling this one, he didn't stand a chance.

84' His Dortmund counterpart, Peter Stöger looks resigned to his team's fate as he looks on from the dugout.  

82' Marco Rose makes his final substitution, sending on Yabo and taking off Haidara. Now both coaches have used all three subs. 

79' Schlager comes off for Salzburg and is replaced by Hannes Wolf - not the former Stuttgart coach. 

78' After that short phase of pressure, Dortmund are coughing up the ball unnecessarily again. 

73' A long shot by Schmelzer gives Walke a bit of trouble. Then Isak gets a shot from close range. Now its looking like Dortmund could score soon. 

70' Batshuayi partially breaks through, but his shot is stopped by Walke. That may have been BVB's best of few chances so far. 

68' Schürrle has a crack from the top of the box but it's blocked by a Salzburg defender. It never had a chance of making it anywhere near Walke's cage. 

66' Hwang's night of work is over, he makes way for Gulbrandsen.

65' Dortmund's best chance of the match! Isak heads a cross on to Schmelzer, but his header from seven meters out is right at Walke. 

62' Salzburg's Berisha is carded for dangerous play. 

62' Stöger makes his final change, taking off Castro and replacing him with Raphael Guerreiro.

61' Dabbur with a decent crack, but it's straight at Bürki who catches it with ease.

60' Free kick for Salzburg from a dangerous distance. But it comes to nothing.

58' Salzburg bear down on the Dortmund defense with a 3-on-2, but they hesitate and the eventual shot is nowhere near the target.

57' Phillip with a crack on goal, but it goes straight at Walke.

55' Whereas he left his whistle in his pocket for much of the first half, the ref has been clamping down a bit in the second half...

52' Hwang is given the yellow card, meaning he will miss the first quarterfinal leg, should Salzburg get there. It's very much looking like they will at this point.

52' Maximilian Philipp has a crack from just outside the area. No trouble for Walke.

49' Castro has the ball bounce off his foot and into touch. Dortmund have started the second half where they left off in the first.

46' Sokratis gets the second half started by fouling Berisha - and drawing the yellow card for his trouble.

46' Stöger has reacted at the half taking off Reus and Götze and replacing them with Isak and Philipp. Wow!

Halftime assessment: Dortmund have the quality on the pitch to get the two goals and victory that they need to go through. However, you'd hardly know it by that first half. Even though BVB have had almost 60 percent possession, they managed just one attempt on goal, while Salzburg have repeatedly created trouble on the counterattack. Goalkeeper Bürki has kept Dortmund in the match so far, but if BVB are to go through, he can't be their best man in the second half. 

45' That's it for the first half. Now it's up to Stöger to find the right words during the tea break to get Dortmund on track in this one. 

41' Yet another attempt on Bürki's goal! But the Swiss BVB keeper is equal to Berisha's effort. 

39' Batshuayi runs into Ramalho in the Salzburg area and goes down clearly looking for a penalty. No dice. 

36' Reus gets the ball with his back to goal and a little space in front of the Salzburg goal, but he loses his balance - and the ball. 

35' Wow! Salzburg with yet another opportunity, but this time Bürki can just watch Dabbur's attempt go over the crossbar.

32' Schlager with a good effort from about 12 meters out, but Bürki dives full stretch to get his right hand on it and push it past the post! The goalkeeper is without a doubt BVB's best player at this point. 

31' Götze gets out on his own to the left of the Salzburg area, but his high cross is easily gathered in by goalkeeper Walke. 

28' Hwang is almost sent down the right wing all alone but he can't catch up to it. Bürki comes way out of his area to clear the danger.

26' Sokratis with another mistake, but it comes to nothing. Dortmund's central defensive duo are looking anything but solid in Salzburg.

21' Sokratis plays a square ball that is intercepted by Hwang! He goes in on goal but has a bad angle for his shot, Bürki saves Dortmund's bacon! As Dortmund's Twitter feed put it: "We're having a hard time."

19' Dortmund are gradually getting more of the ball, but Salzburg are hard to break down. The Austrians are clearly determined to hold on to what they've got. And why not?

17' Hwang almost broke through alone on the Dortmund area but Zagadou had him tangled up. 

15' M. Bastien is letting things go so far, several incidents within the period of a couple of minutes that would have been called fouls by many referees.

11' So far Dortmund really don't look sharp, they're giving up the ball much too easily.

6' Salzburg break through in the Dortmund area but Bürki makes the save. It all started with a mistake from central defender Zagadou, who coughed up the ball just outside of the BVB area.

1' Dortmund's Batshuayi kicks it off to get things started.

21:01 - The officials lead the players from the two teams out onto the pitch. 

20:55 - RB Leipzig have advanced following a 1-1 draw in St. Petersburg. Leipzig went through 3-2 on aggregate on the strength of their 2-1 win in the first leg at home.

20:18 - The lineups are out:

Salzburg: Walke, Lainer, Ramalho, Caleta-Car, Ulmer, Haidara, Schlager Samassekou, Berisha, Hwang, Dabbur

     
Dortmund: Bürki, Piszczek, Zagadou, Sokratis, Schmelzer, Dahoud, Castro, Schürrle, Mario Götze, Reus, Batshuayi.   

The referee for tonight's match is Benoit Bastien, his assistants are Hicham Zakrani and Frederic Haquette. The fourth official is Julien Pacelli. The entire officiating team is from France.