The classy Germans gave out-of-sorts Manchester City a Champions League lesson in their own back yard.
By MARTIN BLACKBURN
But England No 1 Joe Hart produced arguably the best performance of his career to keep his team in it.
And with just a couple of minutes to go the value of his brilliance was shown as Mario Balotelli slotted home a penalty to give Roberto Mancini’s men a point which they hardly deserved.
Super Mario was the man on the spot again but Hart was the real hero for the home side when another disaster to match the nightmare in Madrid was looming large.
You could even say his performance has kept City’s hopes of getting out of the ‘Group of Death’ alive.
He made a catalogue of top saves in both halves as Dortmund threatened to run away with it.
In the end, he was beaten only because sub Jack Rodwell more or less gift-wrapped a second-half opener for the visitors.
His performance certainly impressed his England pal Wayne Rooney, who during the match labelled him the best keeper in the world on his Twitter page. Rooney wrote: “Have to say Joe Hart has been incredible. For me best keeper in the world.”
Credit to City for hanging in there and rescuing what could yet be a crucial point.
But the scale of the task facing the English champions to get out of Group D and into the second phase became obvious during a thrilling night at the Etihad.
Chances are they will now need to beat Ajax twice and then Real Madrid at home or Dortmund away.
That is a tall order but at least this point gives them a glimmer of hope.
And maybe they can take some consolation from the fact they have opened their European campaign with two cracking games.
Their five-goal thriller in the Bernabeu will live long in the memory — even if the outcome will not — but this was a thriller too.
Right from the off this encounter was wide open, with Samir Nasri bringing a smart save out of Roman Weidenfeller inside the first minute.
It was starting to look promising as City opened up the Germans again, only for Pablo Zabaleta to scoop David Silva’s through ball over the bar.
Dortmund, though, have not won back-to-back German titles for nothing and they were soon in control of the game.
The impressive Mario Gotze found space on the right side of the area and his shot was smartly pushed on to a post by Hart.
An end-to-end half saw Weidenfeller twice deny Sergio Aguero and City were more than holding their own.
But the loss of new boy Javi Garcia to injury on the half-hour tipped the balance firmly in Dortmund’s favour.
Hart was again called into action as Gotze swapped passes with Marco Reus but the keeper got down to smother the ball.
The problem was City failed to clear their lines and Gotze promptly smacked in a stinging volley which City’s stopper did brilliantly to turn on to a post.
There was still time in a breathless first half for Silva to volley over when he really should have scored.
And Ikay Gundogan forced perhaps Hart’s best save of the night from point-blank range right on the interval.
Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson was in the crowd to watch the German side’s Polish forward Robert Lewandowski.
He must have been impressed by what he saw of both that player and his team-mates — and Fergie must also have been grateful to have avoided being drawn in this group.
City began the second half on the back foot, as Gotze yet again forced Hart to tip a shot round a post.
Yet even the Three Lions star had no answer when Rodwell carelessly gave the ball away to Reus instead of passing to Vincent Kompany just past the hour mark.
The German international steamed forward and, while Hart got his right hand to the ball, the right-foot shot was too powerful to keep out.
It was no more than Dortmund deserved and they should have put themselves out of sight in the next 20 minutes.
A ragged City had no answer, as Hart saved from Reus with his legs and then tipped Gundogan’s shot over the bar.
Lewandowski is forging a reputation as one of Europe’s most promising forwards. But he wasted a golden chance as he somehow poked Gundogan’s inch-perfect low cross the wrong side of a post.
United put in a £16million bid for Lewandowski in the summer before switching their attention to Robin van Persie.
He looks tailor-made to play in England and turned in a brilliant all-round display — apart from that crucial miss.
That let-off seemed to give City some kind of hope that they could salvage something from the game.
Zabaleta’s cross found the head of Aguero but his effort was pushed wide by Weidenfeller.
Then, with the clock ticking down to the final whistle, the home side got their break as Aguero’s acrobatic effort struck the arm of Neven Subotic.
Czech referee Pavel Kralovec pointed to the spot, much to the dismay of the Dortmund players who felt their team-mate had no chance of avoiding the ball.
But all the controversy did not bother Balotelli. He stepped up to take the penalty like a man without a care in the world.
Weidenfeller was sent the wrong way as the Italian planted the ball into the bottom left corner of the Dortmund net.
Balotelli had kept his nerve and possibly kept his team in the competition.
But even then City needed Hart again, as Lewandowski’s fierce shot in added time was pushed wide.
The home side could have had no complaints had it crept in. But they live to fight another day. Just.
DREAM TEAM RATINGS
STAR MAN – JOE HART (Man City)
MAN CITY: Hart 9, Zabaleta 6, Kompany 6, Nastasic 5, Clichy 5, Silva 6, Garcia 6, Y Toure 5, Nasri 5, Dzeko 5, Aguero 7. Subs: Rodwell (Garcia 34) 5, Kolarov (Nasri 57) 5, Balotelli (Clichy 81) 6. Not used: Pantilimon, Lescott, Milner, Tevez. Booked: Kompany, Yaya Toure.
