Kovac demands Dortmund rediscover clinical edge after wasteful 2-1 Sabah win

Guirassy double saves wasteful Dortmund as Kovac calls for ruthlessness

Borussia Dortmund returned to winning ways in the Champions League with a narrow 2-1 victory over Azerbaijani minnows Sabah — but the relief of three points was tempered by yet another profligate night in front of goal.

Heading into the contest, Niko Kovac had framed the trip to Azerbaijan as the perfect opportunity to end his side's attacking struggles after failing to score in each of their previous two games. Instead, the Bundesliga giants mustered just two goals from 22 shots, posting an expected goals (xG) total of 3.73 with only nine of those attempts on target.

Guirassy's brace proves decisive

Serhou Guirassy capitalised on some poor goalkeeping from Stas Pokatilov to score a 10th-minute opener. Sabah hit back through Aden McCarthy just before the break, but eight minutes after the restart Guirassy was in the right place at the right time to tuck home Joey Veerman's cross — and it was his double that proved decisive.

"We played a really good attacking game and created a lot of chances," Kovac told reporters. "If we had even capitalised on half of them, we no doubt would have won by three or four goals.

"We made small mistakes here and there, which allowed our opponent back into the game. It was a tough battle, but totally deserved."

Book echoes calls for ruthlessness

Kovac's comments were backed up by sporting director Ole Book, who urged his team to be more "ruthless" moving forward.

"When you travel this far — and not just us, but the fans as well — it only makes it sweeter to get the three points, which were also critical because of our loss in Norway," Book said. "Of course, it feels good to get a victory after three winless games. We definitely could have helped ourselves out today by being more ruthless.

"On the other hand, we took a significant step forward in terms of the way we played football."

End of painful away run

Despite the concerns, Dortmund ended a run of four consecutive away Champions League defeats — their first away win for 364 days, since beating Copenhagen 4-2 in October 2025.

Key to the triumph was Guirassy, who became only the second player to score 20-plus Champions League goals for Dortmund (now 21), after Marco Reus (24). In reaching that tally in 27 games, Guirassy scored 20 goals in the second-fewest appearances for a German club, behind Harry Kane for Bayern Munich (20 in 26). Since the start of the 2024-25 season, Guirassy is the fourth player to score 20-plus Champions League goals (21), after Kane (28), Kylian Mbappe (24) and Erling Haaland (20).

Yet even the Dortmund number nine could not look past his team's struggles in the final third. Guirassy had more shots (eight) than any other player for Kovac's side, with four of those on target.

"I'm obviously happy with the win because it was so important for the team. The last two games were tough, which is why it was so important to win," Guirassy added. "And that's exactly what we did. Congratulations to the entire team, and thanks also to the fans for their support. But we missed a few chances. If we can all be consistent, I believe we can achieve a lot this season."