Luvovadio Lights Up Dortmund's Night

"He was the difference between a good night and a ruthless one," said a Dortmund voice in the stands, and nobody in the BVB Stadion Dortmund argued. Jules Luvovadio, the Belgian who has spent nearly a decade in this shirt, gave Borussia Dortmund a 5-0 Champions League win over Viktoria Plzeň on Tuesday with two goals, an assist and a 9.3 rating that made him the game's outstanding figure.

The evening's shape was set early. Dortmund had 69 per cent of the ball, 21 shots to Plzeň's two, and 3.7 expected goals to the visitors' 0.21. Luvovadio was at the centre of it from the attacking midfield slot, with four shots of his own, three on target and four key passes. Ikechukwu Okeke scored twice from the deeper midfield role, and Sadio Keita, the summer signing from Salzburg, supplied two assists and four dribbles before coming off on 82 minutes. Marvin Kiala added another assist. Vuk Jovanović, on at 67, contributed one more.

Plzeň's team sheet told its own story: a 19-year-old goalkeeper, a 16-year-old right-back, a 20-year-old centre-back, teenagers across midfield and a 17-year-old up front. They made 26 fouls and collected two yellow cards, Patrik Bečka and Lukáš Mandous, and they held out with effort rather than control. Dortmund finished the game in a 4-2-4 shape, having started 4-2-3-1, and the substitutions did not dilute the pressure.

Luvovadio's night was the one the crowd will remember, and it arrives amid noise off the pitch. Fabrizio Lazo has told his team-mates he wants to go home to Argentina, and a squad that drew 1-1 in Munich earlier in the season now carries both a Champions League statement and a dressing-room question. Dortmund's supporters, who have watched this club build around Luvovadio since his £27.1m arrival from Club Brugge in 2054, will take the football. The rest can wait.