AFP, DORTMUND: Borussia Dortmund suffered a significant Champions League setback on Wednesday when Peter Bosz's team were held to a 1-1 draw at home by APOEL of Cyprus. Raphael Guerreiro's superb first-half goal for Borussia was cancelled out by Mickael Pote's equaliser after the break on a frustrating night for the hosts. “I can understood the frustration, we have to win against a team like that,” said head coach Bosz as Dortmund were booed off by their fans.

“It's a very difficult situation, we need a win. We got into this together and we have to find a way out.” Dortmund remain without a victory after four games in Group H and must beat Tottenham Hotspur in their next outing and hope Real Madrid drop points away to APOEL to maintain any hope of progressing.

Dortmund are currently third on two points, level with third-placed APOEL and five behind Madrid. Tottenham beat the Spanish side 3-1 on Wednesday to secure their own progress to the last 16.

Dortmund's only victory in their five outings prior to this game had come against third-tier Magdeburg in the German Cup and Bosz had billed the visit of APOEL a must win. “We are stuck in a bad phase,” said captain Marcel Schmelzer. “A second goal before the break would have done us good. We have to pull together to get out of this phase.”

This was another sloppy performance in defence while their attack lacked urgency, and star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to score in his fourth match running. This was neither the result nor performance Bosz wanted ahead of Saturday's crunch Bundesliga showdown at home to defending champions Bayern Munich. After creating several good chances in the opening stages, Dortmund took the lead when Shinji Kagawa's magic touch released Guerreiro.