Donyell Malen had to wait ten games for it, but on Tuesday evening his first goal for Borussia Dortmund after 522 minutes was finally a fact. The attacker crowned himself man of the match in the Champions League match with Sporting Portugal (1-0) by taking the winning goal in the Signal Iduna Park.
“This is what you live for as a striker”, the the Dutch international proudly added afterwards Amazon Prime at. The ex-PSV player, who was in the attack with Thorgan Hazard in the absence of the injured Erling Braut Haaland, was sent down in the 37th minute by Jude Bellingham and then gave Sporting goalkeeper Antonio Adán the check with a slider in the far corner. “Getting your first goal is important, I couldn’t be happier. It’s a great feeling. I am very happy that I scored and helped the team. This is an important win.”
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His first goal for Borussia Dortmund, and an important one! Dortmund 1, Sporting 0 #ZiggoSport #UCL #PSGMCI pic.twitter.com/AG51yAIlmF
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) September 28, 2021
Dortmund coach Marco Rose was also satisfied with Malen after the Champions League match. “I should probably talk about Donyell. He delivered. This was important to that boy,” the trainer is quoted by kicker. Malen was named Man of the Match. The attacker is also praised in Germany. The fifteen-time international was Sports1 together with Manuel Akanji as the great shiner. “He finally gave home. The goal gave him a boost, you could see that in the Dutchman after the success. He played at the front of the attack and he clearly liked that.”
The praise is more than welcome for Malen, who received strong criticism from Lothar Matthäus earlier this week. The former international wrote in his column after the 1-0 defeat of Dortmund against Borussia Mönchengladbach sky that the attacker shows far too little. “You can expect something more from newcomer Malen in particular. So far I am very disappointed in him. Against Gladbach he barely passed an opponent, offensively he could not show much.”
After the victory over Sporting, Dortmund occupies second place in Group C of the Champions League with six points. The Germans have to leave the lead to Ajax because of a better goal difference (plus six to plus two). The team from Amsterdam won 2-0 against Besiktas on Tuesday evening. On October 19, the two teams will face each other in the Johan Cruijff ArenA.