Soccer
Dortmund top group after Anderlecht draw─── 09:54 Wed, 10 Dec 2014
Borussia Dortmund finished atop their Champions League Group D on superior goal difference from Arsenal after a 1-1 draw against Anderlecht on Tuesday.
Former Genoa and Torino striker Ciro Immobile, part of Italy's World Cup squad, struck in the 60th minute for Dortmund.
Serbian Aleksandar Mitrovic equalised in the 84th minute for the Belgians in a game dominated by the home side.
Dortmund, the 1997 Champions League winners, had already assured their progression to the knock-out round along with second-placed Arsenal who beat win-less Galatasaray 4-1 in Turkey on Tuesday and also finished on 13 points.
Anderlecht go on to play in the Europa League in February.
Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp, who has seen his side fail to replicate their European form in the Bundesliga, was satisfied with the outcome.
"This was a very good performance by the team," said Klopp, who guided Dortmund to the 2013 Champions League final.
"We created a lot of chances but unfortunately we were not able to convert them. Still, 13 points is a great total."
Both goalkeepers were called into early action of a first-half in which Dortmund dominated possession.
Anderlecht's Silvio Proto was forced into a close-range save from Immobile while Dortmund's Australian 'keeper Mitchell Langerak came racing off his line in the 11th minute to block an effort from Mitrovic after the striker was put through on goal by Dennis Praet.
Immobile again tested Proto after a neat one-two with Shinji Kagawa and the goalkeeper fended off an effort from Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
As it turned out Sacha Kljestan almost handed the Belgians a surprise lead just before half-time but the American's shot drifted high.
Immobile finally broke the deadlock with a well-taken goal, the Italian stepping back inside the defence and blasting past Proto from the edge of the area for his fourth goal of the campaign so far.
The 24-year-old Italian kept testing Proto, the Belgian pressed into a smart double save and then pushing away a longer-range volley.
With 10 minutes of regulation time to play, Mkhitaryan had a great chance to increase the lead but his curling shot went just over the Anderlecht bar.
But a sloppy clearance saw Anthony Vanden Borre swing the ball in from the right flank for Mitrovic to head home from six metres in just their second shot on target.
SAPA
