Odds Ballklubb 3-4 Borussia Dortmund: Henrikh Mkhitaryan spares Dortmund’s blushes as Thomas Tuchel’s men come from three goals down to win in Norway

Borussia Dortmund were 3-0 down to Odds Ballklubb by the 22nd minute
The Germans then recovered to win 4-3 on the Norwegians’ artificial pitch
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored two goals either side of a Shinji Kagawa strike, before Henrikh Mkhitaryan headed the winner

John Downes For Mailonline

Published:
20:33 GMT, 20 August 2015

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Updated:
21:35 GMT, 20 August 2015

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It was a case of Odds by name, odd by nature in Norway on Thursday night, as Odds Ballklubb lost 4-3 to German giants Borussia Dortmund, having raced into a three-goal lead by the 22nd minute.

Marco Reus, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukas Piszczek did not fly with the Dortmund squad ahead of their first leg Europa League play-off match but Thomas Tuchel nevertheless fielded an enviable XI in Skien.

However, ‘Der BVB’s’ woeful start on the host’s artificial surface gave them a huge mountain to climb before they expertly rectified their early ineptitude, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored two goals either side of a Shinji Kagawa strike, before Henrikh Mkhitaryan headed a winner in the 85th minute to spare the club’s blushes ahead of the second leg at the Signal Iduna Park next Thursday.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan (right) spared Borussia Dortmund’s blushes as the Germans beat Odds Ballklubb 4-3

Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (left) scored a brace for Thomas Tuchel’s men as they won in Norway

Odds came into the game with nothing to lose and with the club’s frenzied fans turning their Skagerak Arena ground into a cauldron, they bamboozled the disjointed Germans in the very first minute.

A long ball found young winger Rafik Zekhnini down the left flank who beat Gonzalo Castro easily before sending in a neat cross to the completely unmarked Jone Samuelsen who produced a diving header in the six-yard box to score.

In the second minute former Manchester United midfielder Kagawa then hit the bar from the edge of the box with a right-footed effort, after a rare early flurry forward for Dortmund, before they went two down in the 19th minute.

In another instance of incoherent play, Dortmund’s defenders gave Fredrik Nordkvelle a free run at goal, having received a simple in-field pass, and the 29-year-old midfielder gleefully advanced before slotting past veteran goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller.

Dortmund’s players looked shell-shocked after going 3-0 down in the 22nd minute at the Skagerak Arena

Ilkay Gundogan (right) challenges Jone Samuelsen (left), who opened the scoring in the first minute

With their supporters already in seventh heaven, the Norwegians reached a new state of ecstasy in the 22nd minute when a 112 km/hour thunderbolt Espen Ruud free-kick from all of 35 yards found the back of the neck; Weidenfeller will be disappointed that he didn’t get enough on the shot but take nothing away from defender Ruud who could not have struck the stationary ball any sweeter.

Tuchel said at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday: ‘It was our choice to rest Marco (Reus)’ and the forward’s creativity was certainly missed until Dortmund suddenly burst into life shortly after the half-hour mark.

Ilkay Gundogan hit a low, whipped 34th minute shot on target from outside the box, after a passage of play in which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had an effort saved after churning out a chance for himself.

The effort was spilled by 19-year-old goalkeeper Sondre Rossbach and Aubameyang composed himself to jab home the rebound to give Dortmund hope.

In the 34th minute Aubameyang composed himself to jab home a rebound off keeper Sondre Rossbach

With jubilant Odds fans setting off flares at half-time, the Tippeligaen league side came out for the second half lacking the same intensity they started the game with, and under plumes of smoke, barely visible to television viewers, Kagawa volleyed into the corner for Dortmund in the 47th minute to put the comeback well and truly on.

With their tails up, Dortmund piled on the pressure and Gundogan curled agonisingly wide with his weaker left foot just five minutes later.

As an animated Tuchel jumped and yelped on the touchline, Aubameyang then had two opportunities in quick succession to net the equaliser.

In the 67th minute he received a pass with his back to goal outside the box, turned and unleashed a powerful shot from long range which hit the upright, before fluffing his lines three minutes afterwards, with one of the misses of the season.

Aubameyang scored his second goal in the 76th minute in front of Dortmund’s travelling supporters

Escaping his marker, he latched on to a cross at the back post just yards from the goal-line, and with the goal at his mercy, but somehow failed to make proper contact, squandering the chance with the ball eventually tangled between his legs.

The prolific Gabon striker then made up for his howler in the 76th minute, hitting a shot from a cut back through Rossbach’s legs to embarrass the keeper once more and level the tie.

And the turnaround was finally complete in the 85th minute as Kagawa, easily Dortmund’s most creative player on the night, popped up on the left flank to cross superbly for Mkhitaryan who nodded home to give Dortmund the win, and Tuchel a huge sigh of relief.