Troubled Dortmund’s slump continues at Bologna in Champions League

BOLOGNA, Italy: Borussia Dortmund´s woes continued on Tuesday after the troubled Bundesliga outfit fell to a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which dented their hopes of direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Goals in a matter of seconds in the second half from substitutes Thijs Dallinga and Samuel Iling-Junior gave Bologna their first ever win in the modern version of Europe´s elite club competition and handed Dortmund their fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

Last season´s finalists Dortmund, who opened the scoring in the 15th minute through Serhou Guirassy´s classy chipped penalty, are 13th on 12 points, one point from the top eight with other teams set to complete the penultimate round of league phase matches on Wednesday. Tuesday´s defeat piled more pressure on under-fire coach Nuri Sahin even though his players showed their support by joining him in a group hug after Guirassy netted his seventh goal in as many Champions league matches this season.

“I think we will sit down together tonight or tomorrow in Dortmund. Right now the game is too fresh,” said Sahin. Dortmund sporting director Lars Ricken refused to guarantee the coach´s job after the game, telling Amazon Prime: “You will not get an off-the-cuff decision from me in Italy based on emotion.” “We all want the best for Borussia Dortmund, we will discuss what is best for the club and what the solutions are so that we can get back on the road to success,” Ricken added.