Borussia Dortmund has progressed to the Round of 16 stage of the UEFA Champions League courtesy their 1-0 win over Sporting Lisbon last night.
With two games to go in the Group stage, the German side leads with 10 points ahead of their closest rivals, Real Madrid, who are on eight points, while Sporting Lisbon and Legia Warszawa are on three and one point respectively.
Adrian Ramos scored in the 12th minute to give the home side the lead at Signal Iduna Park and Dortmund never looked back.
Ramos was tasked with leading Dortmund’s line in Aubameyang’s absence and the Colombian duly vindicated Tuchel’s decision when he headed the hosts ahead on 12 minutes.
Pulisic and Mario Gotze were the architects as they combined to supply Matthias Ginter, and Ramos got enough on the defender’s inch-perfect cross to beat Rui Patricio.
Gelson Martins twice went close to restoring parity after the half-hour mark, but Roman Burki and then Bartra did well to deny the youngster from close-range.
Still, Dortmund continued to search for a second – Gotze combining excellently with Pulisic – but the latter’s point-blank strike rattled off the crossbar.
Dortmund substitute Andre Schurrle was the next to go close – Patricio scrambling across to tip the former Wolfsburg forward’s free-kick wide.
Ruiz had the opportunity to level proceedings with just over 10 minutes remaining, but the Costa Rica playmaker failed to hit the target with his close-range header as Dortmund held firm to book their place in the last 16.
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