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PAOK FC down Dortmund 1-0 in UEFA Europa League

Xinhua, December 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Dortmund progressed into the next round despite suffering their second loss in a row as PAOK's Robert Mak scored the only of the goal of the match at the last round of Europa League's group stage on Thursday.

   The visitors from Greece secured a surprising 1-0 victory on the road as they overcame uninspired Group C runner-up Dortmund. However, the victory is worthless for third-placed PAOK, as they had no chance to progress into the knockout stage.

   Thomas Tuchel's men needed a better result than Group C front-runners Krasnodar, the "BVB" started thus highly motivated and offensively minded into the game. Meanwhile, PAOK kept all their men deep in their territory to lurk for counter attack opportunities.

   Despite PAOK's passive strategy the host were able to work out opportunities as Shinji Kagawa's shot rattled the left post with 10 minutes into the clash before Matthias Ginter pulled wide with his volley attempt from very close range in the 26th minute.

   The visitors cut a clinical figure in front of Dortmund's danger zone as Dimitris Konstantinidis' deep through ball found Robert Mak, who rounded Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller to break the deadlock out of the blue in the 33rd minute. Dortmund tried to respond before the break but the left post denied Marco Reus' effort from close range.

   After the restart, the hosts worked out the best chance to restore parity but PAOK's goalkeeper Panagiotis Glykos defused Henrikh Mkhitaryan's effort following a one-on-one situation. PAOK's custodian was again in the thick of things moments later, after he tipped Shinji Kagawa's dangerous header over the bar. 

   Dortmund continued their run on PAOK's goal but they lacked in ideas and accuracy to overcome the visitor's bulwark, although Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's header hit the woodwork in the closing period.

   With the result, Dortmund sealed their progression into the next round whereas PAOK were crashed out of the Europa League.

   Krasnodar completed the group stage atop the standings in Group C with 13 points followed by Dortmund (10 points), PAOK FC (7 points) and Gabala FK (2 points).  Endi