Hibs v Dortmund extras: Competing with elite youth, contract talks, squad numbers quirk

Football is often a game of ‘what-ifs’, and the narrative didn’t disappoint on Tuesday night when Hibs took on Borussia Dortmund in the play-off round of the UEFA Youth League.

The reward for Steve Kean’s side after eliminating Molde and Nantes in the first two knockout rounds was a one-legged encounter on home turf against a formidable opponent who reached the quarter-final stage of the competition last year. Had Ethan Laidlaw’s effort early in the second half gone the right side of the far post, it could have been a different story. Laidlaw and Josh O’Connor have impressive scoring records at youth level but Dortmund’s forward line of Julian Rijkhoff, Paris Brunner, and Samuel Bamba have contributed 79 goals in 66 games.

Competing with the elite

On paper it looked a tough ask, but whether it was unfamiliar surroundings, a lack of competitive matches since the start of December, or just coming up against a well-drilled Hibs side, Dortmund looked very ordinary in the first half. Rijkhoff, plucked from the prestigious Ajax academy and already earning comparisons with Erling Haaland, was kept quiet until a deflected effort half an hour in and his penalty with 20 minutes remaining. Bamba was hooked on 67 minutes and took his frustrations out on the dugout.

Dejection for Rudi Molotnikov, Kanayo Megwa, and Jacob MacIntyre after Dortmund's late show at Easter Road

That reaction, the scenes of elation when substitute Hendry Blank scored the winner, and the actions of some Dortmund players at full time, told their own story. The visitors had been given the fright of their lives by a dogged Hibs team who did themselves proud, and probably didn’t do Scottish football’s on-field reputation any harm either.

BVB’s coach, former Hearts loan striker Mike Tullberg, told The Scotsman that most of the squad who reached the last eight in last year’s Youth League competition are still eligible for the under-19s, but have already been called into the Dortmund first team. You wouldn’t bet against several members of this year’s squad following suit.

Contract situation

Speaking before the game Kean indicated that contract talks would be sorted after the game was done and dusted. On Tuesday night’s performance – with chief executive Ben Kensell, manager Lee Johnson and the first-team coaching staff, most of the first-team squad, and dozens of scouts watching on – Hibs look to have more than a few players capable of stepping up and impacting the first team.

As Kean said, it would be impossible to pick a man of the match given the collective and individual performances by the Hibs team but it wouldn’t be unthinkable that more than a few players might have earned new and improved deals on the back of their performances against Dortmund.

Squad numbers quirk

When Hibs announced their line-up, what immediately jumped out was the odd numbering such as Laidlaw wearing four and centre-back Kanayo Megwa in the number ten shirt. Speaking afterwards, Kean revealed it had been an attempt to gain an upper hand on their opponents by not giving too much away in advance.

“We normally do 1-11 but had to submit the team to UEFA the night before, which would have shown Dortmund our starting XI so we did it alphabetically,” he said. “We looked back at previous rounds and realised we were showing our hand a bit so we wanted to keep them guessing.”