BVB wins 3-0 at FC Bruges: Substitute Jamie Gittens – Sport

A Playstation is a box that allows you to play virtual football on your television. On this console, you can play football so perfectly that it doesn’t always have much to do with reality. Professional footballer Jamie Gittens, 20, has such a Playstation at home, and next to this box for virtual football there is now a small silver trophy from real football. The trophy is a globe made from the iconic stars of the Champions League. After every game in this competition, it is awarded to the “Player of the Match”.

On Wednesday night, after Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 opening victory at FC Bruges, Gittens was named player of the match. He had two almost perfect moves and eight minutes after being substituted on in the closing stages, he scored twice in ten minutes to give BVB a win that might not have won the game without Gittens. “Today is a good day,” said the 20-year-old Englishman in broken German. “I’m so happy!”

The winger had already saved the new BVB coach Nuri Sahin’s backside as a joker three weeks ago. In the first Bundesliga game against Eintracht Frankfurt, a scoreless draw was already looming, when substitute Gittens scored two goals in the 72nd and 93rd minutes to secure a 2-0 win. And on Wednesday in Bruges, it was exactly the same again: substituted on in the 68th minute, Gittens scored two goals in the 76th and 86th minutes with the same move, cutting into the center with the ball in the penalty area from the left and finishing with his right. With his first shot, he was lucky that the ball was deflected twice. With his second shot, the ball went straight into the goal. Center forward Serhou Guirassy, ​​who had also been substituted on, scored the goal to make it 3-0 with a penalty he himself won in the 95th minute. It was the new man from VfB Stuttgart’s first goal for BVB.

Coach Sahin, at 36 the youngest of all 36 coaches in the Champions League competition, started the game with a new starting eleven that performed mediocrely at best until the 76th minute. The efforts of winger Donyell Malen in the center of the attack and those of central midfielder Marcel Sabitzer on the right wing fizzled out. If Bruges had handled their chances better, they would have been more or less clearly in the lead in the 76th minute. If Dortmund had lost the game, then you could perhaps even have said that Sahin had coached it a little too badly.

Serhou Guirassy also comes on as a substitute and scores

But a game lasts 90 minutes, and every coach can use more than eleven starting players. When it comes to variety, coach Sahin has a good hand. Three goals from substitutes is an impressive feat. “And sometimes you just need a bit of patience in football,” said playmaker Julian Brandt afterwards. Late goals, that is to say, are no worse than early goals, and goals from substitutes are no worse than those from starting players. The Dortmund players seemed explicitly relieved after the game, not to say they breathed a sigh of relief. Up until the 76th minute, nobody was sure how the game would continue.

After the game, Marcel Sabitzer surprisingly seemed as if something bad had happened. He was neither happy with his role nor with his performance. “It’s not my ideal position, but you play where the coach puts you,” said the Austrian, quickly dejected. “The coach’s decision must be respected.”

Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl quickly seemed a little annoyed when confronted with Sabitzer’s displeasure. “I don’t know why we’re looking for something negative here, we won 3-0!?” The competition in the squad is tough, said Kehl, “and I’d rather have an unhappy player after a 3-0 win than for us to lose.”

Coach Sahin, on the other hand, remained completely calm. “Sabi has told me ten thousand times that he prefers to play at number six – and that’s exactly where we’ll need him in many games this season.” Gittens’ wish to be back in the starting eleven could also soon be fulfilled. “Every player wants to play from the start,” Sahin knows, “the problem is: I’m only allowed to field eleven.”