Borussia Dortmund’s capitulation at the hands of Real Madrid in the Spanish capital on Tuesday somehow seems in keeping with the wildly out-of-balance nature of the Schwarzgelben in their current guise.
It was a reunion on multiple levels: a meeting with the team that defeated them in the UEFA Champions League final 143 days prior, a hello again to the man who guided them to that match at Wembley, Edin Terzic, who is doing TV punditry duty for Amazon Prime. Most strikingly, though, it was a reunion with the plain reminder that Dortmund are far from complete — indeed fundamentally flawed.
Terzic’s successor, Nuri Şahin, faced a string of uncomfortable interviews after the game during which he had to answer for his own culpability. The word of the night was Umstellung (“switch”), meaning the change of shape from the 4-2-3-1 that had seen BVB dominate the first half in every way — more and better passing, winning more challenges and two lovely goals — to the 5-4-1 that proved their undoing.
The image of centre-back Waldemar Anton replacing the dangerous Jamie Gittens on 55 minutes is the one that will live long in the memory of those watching in Germany. In retrospect, it was akin to waving the white flag and inviting a reinvigorated Madrid on to them.
Bringing on floundering club captain Emre Can and having him effectively go one-on-one against Vinícius Júnior also raised eyebrows.
Dortmund came apart at the seams, which can happen against a team of Real Madrid’s quality, but in this case, Şahin’s tactical choices contributed mightily to their downfall.
Under the new coach, BVB have been quite simply wretched on their travels, losing three in a row in all competitions away from the Signal Iduna Park while conceding 12. For any tactician, that is concerning, and the trip to FC Augsburg this weekend now takes on extra significance.
Dortmund’s home form is perfect statistically, but anyone who has watched them regularly would say many of the performances have been suspect. On Friday, BVB were guilty of trying to sleepwalk their way to victory against St. Pauli and only succeeded thanks to an effective late co-production of Gittens and the excellent Serhou Guirassy.
Şahin, who served as a Terzic assistant in the second half of last season, has his hands full because (and this can’t be laid at his door) the squad still has holes in it and a lack of balance with as many questions as answers. That is the territory of recently promoted managing director of sport Lars Ricken and sporting director Sebastian Kehl.
The signing policy has been less coherent than that seen with Bayer Leverkusen, RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich or VfB Stuttgart. Gone seemingly are the days of identifying some of the best young players in Europe, polishing them successfully and eventually transferring on, rinse and repeat. Think Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham.
Tuesday was an experience best forgotten, which ended in bizarre fashion due to an unusual, strident monologue on Prime by Matthias Sammer, former Bundesliga champion as a player and coach with BVB and these days, often seen gesticulating wildly in the stand on matchdays in his role as advisor to the club’s senior management. He covered everything from having the right attitude to how proud he is to be German and therefore one should never accept defeat and then, maybe confusingly for younger viewers, the Wunder von Uerdingen (the miracle of Uerdingen), a famous Cup Winners’ Cup quarterfinal fightback by Bayer Uerdingen against his Dynamo Dresden side in 1986.
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Dortmund will need a miracle comeback of their own to turn this season into a positive one.
Europe proving challenging for Bundesliga sides
There is no point in trying to fully sugarcoat what was a chastening Champions League midweek for the German clubs with the exception of Stuttgart, who fully deserved their 1-0 win away to Juventus in Turin.
That it ended a run of four competitive matches without a victory made the success by die Schwaben all the sweeter. I particularly enjoyed Angelo Stiller’s performance as part of a twin midfield fulcrum alongside Atakan Karazor, but the introduction of goal scorer El Bilal Toure for the ineffective Ermedin Demirovic ended up being one of the keys for Sebastian Hoeness and his team. Enzo Millot and Jamie Leweling were both outstanding, and after cruel luck in their opening two games, it puts this likeable team potentially on their way.
Bayern, meanwhile, are reeling after having the power turned off in Barcelona seemingly at the “Flick” of a switch. Yes, their old coach Hansi Flick — who was linked with a return to Munich last spring — had new coach Vincent Kompany’s number.
Kompany must ask himself whether Bayern can really get away with this free, high-pressing, leave-yourself-exposed approach against high-level or adept counterattacking opposition. In this constellation, Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae are being overburdened and Manuel Neuer — for the second Champions League game in a row — showed he’s not quite the saviour of times past.
After back-to-back defeats against Aston Villa and Barca, the alarm bells are ringing for a team intent on being part of a Champions League final on their own patch.
Leverkusen had an off night by their standards in a 1-1 draw of few chances in Guingamp against Brest. Xabi Alonso’s decision to make eight changes made it slightly reminiscent of their DFB-Pokal win in Jena in August. Still, with seven points from three games, die Werkself remain well positioned.
Not so Leipzig, who have yet to pick up a Champions League point. Their 1-0 defeat at home against a more mature Liverpool was no disgrace, but it leaves Leipzig in a difficult position if they have designs on progressing.
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Nicol: Bayern’s defensive approach ‘made no sense’
Steve Nicol can’t fathom why Bayern Munich played with such a high line in their 4-1 defeat to Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League.
Despite this, I don’t see Marco Rose’s team, currently level on points with Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga, falling away domestically any time soon thanks to a parsimonious rearguard organised by Willi Orbán. Only two goals conceded so far is a receipt for their ability to blunt the opposition.
SC Freiburg, who would overtake their hosts with a Saturday win at the Red Bull Arena, should provide a stern test. There’s no doubt the men from Breisgau will feel their prospects have improved with the news that Xavi Simons could miss the rest of 2024 with a bad ankle ligament injury.
Bochum putting ‘unrelegatable’ tag to the test
When a club dispenses with the services of both the sporting director and coach after seven games, you know something is awry, and that certainly applies to bottom-of-the-table VfL Bochum, who have just one point to their name. With Peter Zeidler and Marc Lettau out, Markus Feldhoff and Murat Ural will step up from their roles as assistant coaches on a temporary basis.
First priority for the Reverklub, though, will be to get a new sporting chief installed considering they had already lost former sporting CEO Patrick Fabian immediately after their dramatic escape from relegation through the May playoff.
Bochum, due to history, are often thought of as die Unabsteigbaren (the unrelegatables), but this season’s task is already looking a steep one with Bayern, Leverkusen and Stuttgart their next three adversaries.
