Borussia Dortmund and Roma share the points in thrilling 2-2 draw

Borussia Dortmund and Roma traded blows at a dizzying pace at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK and ended up splitting the points in a 2-2 draw in Club Friendlies action. The match was really decided in just 27 minutes: that's when all four goals went in, and what followed was a long stretch of back and forth with no reward for either side.

A frantic start

Roma struck first and struck fast. Just three minutes in, Paulo Dybala, off a corner kick, curled a left-footed shot that snuck in by the post to make it 0-1. The Argentine wasn't content with just setting up the second goal either: in the 8th minute, following another corner, he whipped in a cross that Bryan Cristante headed home from point-blank range to make it 0-2 and put the German side on the ropes.

Dortmund, though, hit back immediately. Just three minutes later, in the 11th minute, Julian Ryerson pulled one back with a low shot from close range off an assist from Daniel Svensson. The equalizer came before the half-hour mark: in the 27th minute, Serhou Guirassy also found the corner of the net after a Ryerson cross from a free kick, sealing the 2-2 scoreline that stood at halftime.

Chances go begging in the second half

The second half produced no goals but plenty of chances for both sides. Konstantinos Karetsas rattled the crossbar right after the restart, and both Felix Nmecha and Mathis Albert tried their luck from outside the box without troubling Mile Svilar. For Roma, Matías Soulé and Santiago Castro had their own attempts, while late on, before being subbed off, Dybala let fly from distance and forced a big save from the opposing keeper. Neither team could break the deadlock despite the substitutions and the pace the match maintained right to the end.

What the numbers show

The stats reflect an evenly matched contest, with Roma controlling more of the ball but Dortmund generating a higher volume of offense.

The home side shot more and with greater accuracy, something confirmed by the post-match expected goals figures: 2.21 for Dortmund versus 1.105 for Roma. That gap suggests the German club created more real danger than the final scoreline showed, though the draw ended up being a fair result when you look at how the whole match unfolded.

A preview that fell short of the final score

Before kickoff, our projection gave Dortmund a 48% chance of winning, 24% for a draw and 28% for Roma, with expected goals of 2 for the home side and 1.5 for the visitors (a total of 3.5). The outcome ended up landing pretty close to that script in terms of total goals, with four goals split between the two sides, but it strayed from the most likely result: instead of a Dortmund win, the match ended level, with Roma actually leading by two goals inside the first eight minutes.

Takeaways from the match

Dortmund can take satisfaction in having clawed back from an early deficit thanks to the finishing of Ryerson and Guirassy, along with a clear edge in shot volume across the 90 minutes. Roma, for its part, can point to the clinical finishing of Dybala and Cristante in the first half and their ability to hold onto the result despite ceding control after the break. Neither side left feeling like they'd lost anything, but neither could be sure they'd secured what had, for a stretch of the first half, looked like a sure win.