Champions League

German teams put in underwhelming performances in the opening round of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night, with Bundesliga champs Borussia Dortmund salvaging a late 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen failing to find the net in their 2-0 loss away to Chelsea.

In Dortmund, it was a matchup of two fast-paced and offense-minded squads in what promised to be an extravaganza of attacking football. What we got, however, were two teams that struggled to find their rhythm and hence failed to build the momentum needed to secure all three points.

The Germans are back in the Champions League after an absence of nine years while Arsenal are competing in the tournament for the 14th successive season - and the difference in experience showed. Neither team was able to stamp their dominance on the opening 20 minutes.

Dortmund struggled for meaningful possession in their attacking third as Arsenal did a better job of getting their passing game going in the midfield. On their few forays forward, the Dortmund attack of Shinji Kagawa, Mario Götze and Kevin Grosskreutz often found themselves outnumbered and unstuck.

Defensive lapse

In the 41st minute Arsenal struck from a defensive error by Sebastian Kehl, who had played a ball straight across the back four which was picked off by Arsenal striker Robin van Persie. From the ensuing break the ball found its way to Theo Walcott who fed through back to van Persie in open space. The Dutchman slotted past keeper Roman Weidenfeller for an easy 1-0 lead.

As both teams continued to struggle to string together attacking forays, Grosskreutz became less and less effective, making poor decisions and losing possession when on the attack. But then his substitute, Ivan Perisic, pulled something from the fire in the 88th minute to resurrect the match for Dortmund when he smashed an unstoppable looping volley from outside the box off a free kick.

Up until that point, Dortmund had been struggling to crack the stubborn Arsenal defense, which had camped in at the back seemingly satisfied with a 1-0 result. The Germans stepped up the intensity in the precious remaining minutes but were unable to find an elusive winner.

"A draw in the end was a fair result. Dortmund were just as good as Arsenal," said Deutsche Welle's Rob Turner, who was at the match. "Although Dortmund pressed a lot more than Arsenal they never really created a lot of goal chances.

"The biggest problem was that they gave the ball away far too easily and that of course led to the opening goal by Arsenal."

Borussia Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp commented: "It was a great match, but unfortunately that is the way football is sometimes. We played really, really well over 90 minutes: we were cheeky, we were brave and at the end we got our reward."

Unlucky in London

In England, meanwhile, last year's Bundesliga runners-up, Bayer Leverkusen, faced a somewhat more immense challenge in their Champions League opener when they had to travel to London to face an aged but nonetheless classy Chelsea outfit.

The game would have been of particular importance for Leverkusen midfielder and former Germany captain Michael Ballack, who spent four years at Stamford Bridge before returning to Leverkusen where he played in his younger years.

The match was full of action from the outset, when Leverkusen's Simon Rolfes had a goal disallowed in the first five minutes after Ömer Toprak was deemed to have fouled his Chelsea marker in the box.

For most of the first half it looked as if Chelsea were in for a frustrating evening against their compact German opponents. Leverkusen, while unable to shine at the pointy end, were able to show an array of skill and football nous that should see them do well against their other Group E opponents, Valencia and Genk.

The London crowd grew restless up until the 67th minute, when Brazilian international David Luiz surged forward and released Florent Malouda. The Frenchman put a quick ball in the box to Fernando Torres who tapped a first-time ball back to the onrushing Luiz. The Brazilian hit a lovely strike that went around his defender and beat keeper Bernd Leno at the far post.

Leverkusen had almost taken the lead only minutes earlier when Ballack advanced on goal with only Petr Cech to beat, but the Czech keeper blocked his former teammate's effort.

Torres then set up Chelsea's second of the night deep in injury time, accelerating clear of the Leverkusen defense before unselfishly cutting back for Mata who side-footed home into an open goal.

Deserved win

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, in his first Champions League match with the London club, was delighted with his team's performance: "Excellent work-rate and excellent number of shots on target. We are very happy with everything."

Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt, meanwhile, was certain his team would improve as the Champions League wore on: "Chelsea deserved to win the game but my team gave a very good performance. Chelsea's defense just didn't make any mistakes. But the more experience my team get the better they will get."

Leverkusen next face Belgian champs Genk at BayArena on September 28, and Dortmund next travel to Marseilles to take on last year's Ligue 1 runners-up.

On Wednesday, Bayern Munich travel to Spain to face Villarreal as the German giants look to get their Champions League season off to a winning start.

Author: Darren Mara
Editor: Spencer Kimball