LONDON — Courage under adversity might be the easiest trait to overlook in the modern Champions League player. He is often seen to be privileged and pampered and paid too much for simply kicking a ball around.

But what happened Tuesday night in Dortmund, Glasgow, London and, perhaps most surprisingly, in the Swiss city of Basel helped to dispel that notion.

As Borussia Dortmund, a team deprived of its entire starting defensive back line because of injuries, swarmed relentlessly into attack to beat Napoli, 3-1, the player who was heart and soul of the performance turned out to be Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

He is the Armenian son of a great player, Hamlet Mkhitaryan, who lost his life to a brain tumor at 33. His son was just 7 when that happened.