Borussia Dortmund extended their unbeaten home Champions League run to 13 matches, but had to work hard before beating SK Sturm Graz 1-0.
The visitors, who had lost their last three matches in the league stage, were perhaps lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch when Emanuel Aiwu bizarrely pushed Jamie Gittens in the face seconds after kick-off.
However, the VAR team decided that there was nothing wrong with the centre-back and the Englishman could continue playing after receiving treatment.
At the restart, Dortmund, who took six points from the first nine of the season in the competition, set out to trap their opponents in their own half. Marcel Sabitzer could have at least hit the mark in the sixth minute, but he headed away a cross from Pascal Gross who invited him to play.
Sturm goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen then made a double save past Sabitzer and Maximilian Beier, before Otar Kiteishvili sent a 20-yard strike well caught by Alexander Meyer at the other end of the field.
Despite Dortmund's territorial domination, the last balls were often missing, which left little room for Scherpen before the break. When the Germans had a good chance late in the first half, Kiteishvili returned to his goal line to deny Beier.
Nuri Sahin chose not to make any changes at half-time, which is understandable given the numerous injuries in his squad and the youth of his bench. But the Dortmund coach might have expected his star player, Serhou Guirassy, to show more discernment when he had the ball stolen from him by Dimitri Lavalee in a promising position, who then blocked the cover by Sabitzer.
In the 57th minute, central defender Nico Schlotterbeck saw his shot deflected by Scherpen, but it was one of the rare moments when Dortmund really looked threatening.
It therefore seemed inevitable that Sahin would bring freshness, bringing in Donyell Malen in place of Sabitzer in the 68th minute.
As the final whistle approached, Sturm, with his young Malick Yalcouye, 18, wonderfully positioned in midfield, must have started to believe that he could spring a surprise, and Mika Biereth had a golden opportunity to do so. to do, but his header went wide of the goal from close range.
Dortmund were becoming more and more desperate, with Malen failing to cleanly recover a cross from Guirassy while Sturm looked set to snatch a famous draw.
Malen, however, gave the final blow in the 85th minute, shooting into the right corner after Aiwu lost the ball.
Thanks to this late goal, Dortmund have now scored in seven consecutive UCL matches at Signal Iduna Park.
Flashscore Man of the match: Malick Yalcouye (SK Sturm Graz)
See all match stats here.
