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- Borussia Dortmund 0 Club Brugge 0: Favre's men through but lose ground on Atletico
Borussia Dortmund 0 Club Brugge 0: Favre's men through but lose ground on Atletico
Atletico Madrid are now clear favourites to win Champions League Group A after Borussia Dortmund could only draw with Club Brugge.
Borussia Dortmund have secured their progression to the Champions League knockout phase with a 0-0 draw at home to Club Brugge, but the stalemate sees them fall behind Atletico Madrid in the battle for top spot in Group A.
Atletico eased to a 2-0 win over Monaco earlier on Wednesday to move three points clear of Lucien Favre's men and Dortmund failed to respond, slumping to a draw despite dominating and creating some presentable chances.
Christian Pulisic and Marco Reus were particularly culpable, as they both spurned fine opportunities in the first half – the latter not even hitting the target when one-on-one.
Brugge were no more of a threat in the second period, yet defensively they looked at ease for most of the match, holding on to a commendable point which handles the initiative to Atletico.
Pulisic should have put Dortmund ahead after just 11 minutes when he found space in the penalty area, but he shot straight at Ethan Horvath in goal.
Opportunities were otherwise infrequent, but the hosts did go close again just after the half-hour mark – Axel Witsel feeding Reus through on goal, only for the Germany star to miss the target when one-on-one with Horvath.
The match followed a similar pattern after the break and Brugge's Brandon Mechele made a vital intervention early on, blocking a low Reus cross which Pulisic looked destined to convert.
Another low Reus delivery threatened soon after the hour, but this time it flew straight across the goal face, with no Dortmund player able to turn it in.
Favre introduced Jadon Sancho from the bench towards the end and he did well to tee up Paco Alcacer on the edge of the box with four minutes to go, but the Spaniard's strike flew harmlessly over, consigning Dortmund to a draw.