Borussia Dortmund slip to defeat against Napoli
Borussia Dortmund tasted defeat for the first time this summer, with Lucien Favre's team finishing on the wrong side of a 3-1 scoreline against last season's Serie A runners-up SSC Napoli in the Swiss town of St. Gallen on Tuesday.
Borussia Dortmund 1-3 SSC Napoli
Goals: 0-1 Milik (7'), 0-2 Maksimovic (29'), 1-2 Philipp (65'), 1-3 Callejon (90+1')
Having played a previously unannounced friendly against FC Zurich earlier in the day, Dortmund began without the services of new captain Marco Reus and summer signing Thomas Delaney, among others, but still offered plenty of star appeal for the expectant crowd, with Christian Pulisic, Maximilian Philipp, Jadon Sancho and Mario Götze all starting. Nevertheless it was Napoli who took the lead when Arkadiusz Milik tood advantage of a defensive mistake to curl in from the edge of the box. And while BVB dominated possession they struggled to carve out any real chances of note, and fell further behind on the half-hour mark when Nikola Maksimovic headed in from a corner.
The match continued in much the same fashion after half-time: Dortmund seeing more of the ball and Napoli happy to sit back and pounce on the counter-attack. Favre's charges did get a goal back eventually though, Philipp tucking in from close range after Pulisic's shot was deflected into his path. Pulisic, who was lively throughout, looked to be Dortmund's best chance of scoring again and he very nearly did so in the closing stages, only to be denied by a good save from Orestis Karnezis. Napoli substitute Jose Callejon dashed any hopes of an equaliser in stoppage time, however, curling in at the back post following a swift break forward.
Watch: Highlights as Pulisic tore apart Liverpool on their summer tour to the US
Line-ups
Dortmund: Bürki – Piszczek (c) (Bockhorn 76'), Toprak, Diallo, Schmelzer – Dahoud (Rode 86'), Sahin – Pulisic, Götze, Sancho - Philipp
Unused substitutes: Isak, Toljan, Gomez, Pieper, Dieckmann
Absentees: Weigl (groin)
Coach: Lucien Favre
Napoli: Karnezis - Hysaj (Hamsik 65'), Maksimovic (Inglese 65'), Chiriches (Fabian 83'), Mario Rui (Luperto 64') - Diawara (Koulibaly 65'), Allan (Grassi 46') - Rog, Ounas (Insigne 64'), Milik (Callejon 64') - Verdi (Albiol 65')
Unused substitutes: Baranovsky, Vinicius
Absentees: N/A
Coach: Carlo Ancelotti
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Match stats
- The teams have only met twice previously, with both fixtures coming in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage. Dortmund won 3-1 at home, but lost 2-1 away.Reus, Lukasz Piszczek, Nuri Sahin and Marcel Schmelzer are the only members of the current BVB squad that also faced Napoli last time out. This game is the first of back-to-back friendlies against Italian Serie A sides for Dortmund, with a fixture against Lazio coming up on 12 August.Reus and Napoli's Germany international Armin Younes played together briefly at Borussia Mönchengladbach at the end of the 2011/12 season.Napoli head coach Ancelotti was in charge at Bayern Munich from July 2016 to September 2017, and won the Bundesliga title in his debut season at the club.Ancelotti's record against Dortmund with Bayern reads played five, won three (including two Supercups), lost two.
As it happened