Sabah FK vs Borussia Dortmund 1-2 - Champions League Matchday 3 Match Report

Sabah FK and Borussia Dortmund met at Bakı Olimpiya Stadionu in the UEFA Champions League league phase, and the shape of the match explained the scoreline far better than the bare numbers do. Sabah FK went down to 1-2 and spent the remainder of the evening trying to pull the game back. The turning point came at the 10 minute mark, when Serhou Guirassy turned the move into the opening the team had been chasing, and everything that followed was played in that new landscape. Borussia Dortmund won 1-2 and carried the points home. 47221 supporters filled Bakı Olimpiya Stadionu, and the noise never really left the players alone. Neither side arrived in the best form: the last five results read W W D W W for Sabah FK and W W D L D for Borussia Dortmund, and both sets of players knew what a slip would cost.

Match facts

• Date: 2026-10-20
• Kick-off: 16:45 UTC
• Venue: Bakı Olimpiya Stadionu, Baku, Azerbaijan (68700)
• Attendance: 47221
• Referee: Javier Alberola Rojas (Spain)
• Competition: UEFA Champions League 2026/2027 - Matchday 3
• Starting line-ups: Sabah FK (4-2-3-1, Coach: Valdas Dambrauskas) / Borussia Dortmund (3-4-2-1, Coach: Niko Kovač)
• Scorers: Aden McCarthy 39'; Serhou Guirassy 10'; Serhou Guirassy 53'

Sabah FK lined up with Stas Pokatilov, Akim Zedadka, Steve Solvet, Aden McCarthy, Tymoteusz Puchacz, Umarali Rakhmonaliev, Ivan Lepinjica, Kaheem Parris, Du Queiroz, Veljko Simić, Joy-Lance Mickels in a 4-2-3-1, while Borussia Dortmund answered with Gregor Kobel, Waldemar Anton, Nico Schlotterbeck, Ramy Bensebaini, Julian Ryerson, Felix Nmecha, Joey Veerman, Daniel Svensson, Carney Chukwuemeka, Fábio Silva, Serhou Guirassy in a 3-4-2-1. Valdas Dambrauskas and Niko Kovač led their respective sides from the touchline, and both had a plan for the first hour that they wanted to keep intact.

Goals and key moments

Goal details, minutes and scorers are the part of the record that separate one evening from another. At the 10' mark, Serhou Guirassy turned the move into the opening the team had been chasing, with Felix Nmecha supplying the pass that made it possible, and 0-1 was the consequence. It was a chance worth 0.782 expected goals, which is exactly why it was worth taking. 39': Aden McCarthy struck it with quality, Tymoteusz Puchacz helping it over the line, and it was 1-1 almost immediately. 53': Serhou Guirassy scored cleanly, Joey Veerman helping it over the line, and it was 1-2 almost immediately. That strike changed the temperature of the evening: from that point the leading side could play for the counter while the chasing side had to take risks in the spaces that had opened up. Not every opening was taken, though, and the chances that were missed told their own story. Taken together, the goals gave the evening a shape that the scoreline on its own never explained.

The tactical picture

Sabah FK started in 4-2-3-1 under Valdas Dambrauskas, while Borussia Dortmund answered with 3-4-2-1 under Niko Kovač, and those two shapes decided most of what happened on the field. Neither manager was willing to hand the central ground over for free, and the shape of the game followed that refusal. The midfield was the part of the pitch both sides wanted, and the numbers show who managed to take it. The side that pressed high won the second ball, which left the other team unable to build from the back and forced them into hopeful passes. The width of the pitch worked against the team that kept attacking down the same flank, and they were closed down every time. Transitions were the story: one side moved the ball forward at speed, the other could not. The tactical conversation between the two benches was as much a part of the evening as the movement of the ball itself.

Tactical reading

Sabah FK set up in a 4-2-3-1 against the 3-4-2-1 of Borussia Dortmund, and the two shapes decided how the ball actually moved: Sabah FK completed 412 passes at 81% accuracy while Borussia Dortmund answered with 501 and 83%. The duel numbers underline the same story, as Sabah FK won 36 duels against 36 for Borussia Dortmund, completed 10 tackles to 12 and read 9 passes compared with 13. Chance creation was the decisive column of the table, with Sabah FK generating 3 clear chances and 8 shots from inside the box against 7 and 16, which is exactly why the goalkeepers had to make 6 and 3 saves between them. Valdas Dambrauskas trusted his 4-2-3-1 and Niko Kovač answered with 3-4-2-1, and the final 1-2 reflects which of the two plans survived the second-half pressure better.

Statistical comparison

The statistical picture is as revealing as the scoreline itself. Expected goals told the sharper story: 1.49 for Sabah FK against 3.73 for Borussia Dortmund. Sabah FK attempted 13 shots to Borussia Dortmund's 22, with 4 on target against 9. Possession finished at 45 per cent for Sabah FK against 55 per cent for Borussia Dortmund, and it is worth noting which side actually used it. Sabah FK won 4 corners to Borussia Dortmund's 9, and that is where most of the set-piece danger came from. Sabah FK completed 332 of 412 passes against 416 of 501 for Borussia Dortmund, a difference that shows how differently the two sides circulated the ball. Fouls were committed 8 times by Sabah FK and 12 by Borussia Dortmund, with 0 and 0 red cards in the official count. The goalkeepers made 6 and 3 saves respectively, and on a night like this that work decides how the result is remembered. The duels went 36 to 36, which is usually the cleanest single indicator of who was prepared to spend effort on the ball. Tackles were completed 10 times by Sabah FK and 12 by Borussia Dortmund, and the duels that followed tell the same story as the rest of the evening.

Discipline and substitutions

Discipline and substitutions shaped the second half more than the scoreline suggests. Sabah FK collected 4 yellow cards and Borussia Dortmund 0, and the caution count of 4 in total meant the referee had to manage a game that was becoming increasingly physical around the halfway line. Both coaches used their changes: 4 by Sabah FK and 5 by Borussia Dortmund, with the last substitution of the evening coming late. The emotional temperature of the evening rose and fell with the challenges and with the decisions taken by both benches. Javier Alberola Rojas took charge of the match and had a relatively straightforward evening by the standards of the competition.

Player of the match and the standout performers

Individual performances separated the two teams across a full ninety minutes. Serhou Guirassy of Borussia Dortmund was the player of the match with a rating of 9.0, and every touch that mattered carried his name on it. For Sabah FK, the best individual rating belonged to Aden McCarthy, and for Borussia Dortmund it belonged to Serhou Guirassy. The gap between the best performances on each side was the reason the result never really looked as comfortable as it was. Across the two squads the highest individual ratings read Serhou Guirassy (9.02), Joey Veerman (8.67), Aden McCarthy (7.87), Carney Chukwuemeka (7.84).

What the result means for the league phase

Sabah FK on points from 3 matches, in 25 place with a goal difference of -3, and Borussia Dortmund on points from 3 matches, in 13 place with a goal difference of 1. Sabah FK arrived with W W D W W in their last five and Borussia Dortmund with W W D L D, so the result fits the run both of them have been on. For the winner the three points are banked and the group is a shade closer to settled; for the other side the work still to be done, and this result has made that plain. What the numbers cannot show is how hard the result was worked for, and how differently the two sides will remember it. The next round of the league phase will tell more: whoever adjusts first in the coming days will be the one who controls the group.