Champions League Wrap: Free-scoring Borussia Dortmund too strong for Athletic Club

Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Athletic Club

Borussia Dortmund maintained ther unbeaten run in the Champions League with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Athletic Club on Wednesday night.

The German giants started this season's competition with a thrilling 4-4 draw with Juventus and continued their free-scoring form at Signal Iduna Park to condemn Athletic to their second defeat in two games.

Daniel Svensson opened the scoring in the 28th minute and Carney Chukwuemeka added a second with 50 minutes on the clock. Gorka Guruzeta reduced the deficit on 61 minutes but late goals from Serhou Guirassy (82') and Julian Brandt (90+1') sealed all three points.

The result saw Dortmund move up to seventh place with four points and left Athletic down in 34th with zero points.

Despite the one-side win, Dortmund boss Niko Kovac felt his team were "too passive" at times.

He told DAZN after the game: "We controlled the game in the first half. In the second half, we were a bit too passive, gave the ball away too quickly, and wobbled a bit."

The coach made a number of changes for the tie, with a busy fixture schedule. He added: "We have really good depth in the squad, and you need that if you have to play every three days. That is why it is a good thing that we made some changes today. Incidentally: Bilbao made six changes. That is part of football today. Now we still have Leipzig, then it's all about the national teams.

"You have to make changes. Schlotti (Nico Schlotterbeck) is coming back after five and a half months. The danger of him running into a muscular injury was just too great after two 90-minute games."

Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 PSV

Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 1-1 draw with Eredivisie club PSV in their Champions League encounter.

Christian Kofane got the Bundesliga side off the mark with his goal on 56 minutes but Ismael Saibari ensured a share of the spoils when he fired home on 72 minutes.

There was a late chance for a winner as the ball dropped to Grimaldo in the third minute of additional time, but the Leverkusen skipper was unable to steer the ball past Matej Kovar from close range.

With two draws, Leverkusen sit in 25th spot and PSV occupy 27th with one point.

Leverkusen's head coach Kasper Hjulmand admitted after the game that his team needs to be more ruthless.

He told DAZN: "We had some good [attacking] situations but we missed the last punch to to put the second goal away. We even had a big chance at the end of the match.

"I think the boys were fighting a lot, but at the end of the day we have another draw and we lacked the last offensive punch to take the victory.

"We needed to keep playing with a proactive mindset. Every time we lead 1-0 we have to be proactive. We have to keep the ball but see if we can attack and get the next goal."

Full Champions League results:

Qarabag 2-0 Copenhagen

Union Saint-Gilloise 0-4 Newcastle

Monaco 2-2 Manchester City

Dortmund 4-1 Athletic Club

Napoli 2-1 Sporting

Villareal 2-2 Juventus

Arsenal 2-0 Olympiacos

Barcelona 1-2 PSG

Leverkusen 1-1 PSV