Scotland star Lewis Ferguson helps inspire Champions League fightback that results in huge managerial sacking

Ferguson played the full match for Bologna at the Stadio Renata Dall’Ara, driving on his team from midfield and picking up a booking late on as I Rossoblu recovered from falling behind to win their first-ever match in the top tier of continental competition.

The result had dire consequences for Borussia Dortmund manager Nuri Sahin, who was sacked on Wednesday morning in the aftermath of the defeat.

The German side started the game well in Italy and took the lead on 15 minutes when Serhou Guirassy netted a penalty after an infringement from Bologna defender Emil Holm.

Looking to secure their place in the top eight of the competition, Dortmund were unable to hold out as Bologna piled on the pressure for equaliser. They scored not one but two goals in two minutes via substitutes to flip the match on its head.

First, Thijs Dallinga latched on to a pass from Jens Odgaard to level on 71 minutes and then 60 seconds later, fellow replacement Samuel Illing Junior tapped home to give the hosts the lead.

Bologna now have five points in the standings and while technically they can still catch Manchester City in 24th place, the chances are incredibly slim and they would need at least a landslide victory against Sporting CP in their final match to stand any hope. Dortmund, however, have slipped down into 13th place on 12 points and face a fight to qualify directly for the last 16.

Sahin guided Dortmund to a 7-1 win over Celtic at the start of October, but recent results have been poor. This was their fourth defeat in a row under the Turk, who led them to the Champions League final last season, and the Westfalenstadion hierarchy decided to act on Wednesday morning, with the team sitting tenth in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund’s sporting director Lars Ricken said: “We greatly value Nuri Sahin and his work; we wanted to work together for a long time and hoped until the end that we could achieve a sporting turnaround together. However, after four defeats in a row, with only one win from the last nine games and in 10th place in the Bundesliga table at present, we have unfortunately lost faith that we can still achieve our sporting objectives in the current constellation. This decision hurts me personally too, but it was unavoidable after the game in Bologna."

On his departure, Sahin said: “Unfortunately, we have not managed to live up to Borussia Dortmund’s sporting ambitions this season. I wish this special club all the best.”

Dortmund will need to defeat Shakhtar Donetsk next week and hope teams above them lose if they are to finish in the top eight, otherwise they will require a play-off to reach the last 16.