Haraldsson earns Lille first-leg draw at Dortmund
Source: http://www.richportaltv.com
Hakon Haraldsson scored the equalizer as Lille fought back to earn a draw at Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
In a first half where the runners-up from the previous season were by far the better team, Dortmund had seized the lead thanks to a spectacular goal from Karim Adeyemi.
However, Haraldsson’s goal during Lille’s significantly better post-intermission performance put the tie in jeopardy before the Wednesday, March 12 (17:45 GMT) return leg in France.
Early in the match, there was not much excitement, but after 22 minutes, Adeyemi had a brilliant moment to put Dortmund ahead with a goal from a corner.
Julian Ryerson’s delivery was met by Lille defender Alexsandro Ribeiro, but his weak headed clearance fell for Adeyemi, who planted a sublime half-volley from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.
Niko Kovac’s side had the ball in the back of the net from a corner again before the break, but the visitors were saved by the assistant referee’s raised flag for offside when Pascal Gross turned in from close range.
Lille were barely given a look-in by the Dortmund defense in the first half, and the closest they went to scoring was when Thomas Meunier exchanged passes with Haraldsson before firing into the sidenetting.
However, the French team were much more active in the second half and rightfully won the tie when Haraldsson, an Icelander, sprinted on a through pass from Jonathan David and slipped past Gregor Kobel, the goalkeeper for Dortmund.
As the visitors held on, Lille substitute Andre Gomes was fortunate to avoid a late red card after a terrible challenge that sent Daniel Svensson out injured.