Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Athletic Bilbao: Guirassy inspires emphatic victory

Borussia Dortmund earned their first win of the Champions League after cruising to a 4-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.

Niko Kovac's side scored twice on either side of Athletic's goal to seal an emphatic win and extend their unbeaten start to 2025-26.

There was little goalmouth action early on at Signal Iduna Park before Dortmund broke the deadlock in the 28th minute, with Daniel Svensson turning Karim Adeyemi's pacy cross in from close range.

Niklas Sule had tested Unai Simon from distance, but Dortmund found their second four minutes after the break when Carney Chukwuemeka slotted in from a tight angle on the left of the box after a mazy run.

Gorka Guruzeta pulled one back for Athletic in the 61st minute, profiting from a failed clearance to drill home.

They were denied an equaliser six minutes later, after Robert Navarro beat Kobel with a lovely dink, only for it to be chalked off.

Dortmund restored their two-goal cushion in the 82nd minute, with Marcel Sabitzer's low drive taking a big deflection off Guirassy to take the ball past the wrong-footed Simon.

Julian Brandt then added some late gloss to the scoreline. Athletic lost the ball in midfield, and Maximilian Beier split their defence with a through ball before Brandt picked out the bottom-right corner with his powerful strike.

Data Debrief: Guirassy lights up Champions League stage

Dortmund are a force to be reckoned with on home soil in Europe, and have now lost just one of their last 19 such Champions League matches, winning twelve of them.

Guirassy played a big role on Wednesday with a goal and assist, meaning he has now been directly involved in 20 goals in the competition since the start of last season (14 goals, six assists), with only Barcelona's Raphinha (21) bettering that total.

Dortmund impressed though, scoring four times from just 1.08 expected goals (xG), with Athletic only mustering 0.96 from their six attempts.

This defeat means Ernesto Valverde has lost consecutive Champions League games for the first time since November 2014 (three in a row during his previous spell with Athletic).