There are a few common misconceptions about the Bundesliga. These misconceptions include ideas about how the football in Germany is increasingly competitive and that the league is considerably fairer than any other top European league. Moreover the Germans are arguably playing the most exciting brand of football in the world at the moment and that is down to the talent they are producing in the Bundesliga.
But for all the positivity that surrounds German football at the moment, last night’s Der Klassiker pointed out once huge ugly truth: Money wins.
Bayern Munich took advantage of the injuries that their nearest rival Borussia Dortmund had suffered and walked out of Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park with a 3-0 victory. Bayern are now ahead of Dortmund by seven points in the league and four ahead of second place Bayer Leverkusen.
Maybe I am a bit damning of the Bundesliga by judging it on a sole match which Dortmund were the underdogs. Three of their first choice back four were out of this match: Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic and Marcel Schmelzer were all out missing with various injuries. Their first choice right back Lukasz Piszczek did come on later in this match, but he has only just recovered from injury. Put it like this: things are that bad for Dortmund that they had signed veteran Manuel Friedreich this week out of desperation.
In fairness, Bayern have also had some injured players with Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger both out. However that didn’t really affect the performance of Bayern Munich that much since they have an incredible amount of talent in their midfield already. And that’s down to one thing again: Money wins.
Football was made for storylines and Der Klassiker got one last night with former Dortmund player Mario Gotze scoring for Bayern Munich in his first appearance for Bayern in a Der Klassiker fixture.
Gotze’s transfer before the Champions League final between these two sides was a remarkable story last summer. It signified that this rivalry will become one-sided in the favour of Bayern’s money and power.
Dortmund, to their credit, have invested the money from Gotze’s transfer wisely. The signings of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang and Sokratis Papastathopoulos gave the underdogs a fighting chance of trying to capture the Bundesliga title from the Bavarian giants once again.
But then another transfer news story came along which would have significant consequences for Dortmund. Their main striker Robert Lewandowski is definitely heading for the exit, with his heart apparently set on joining rivals Bayern Munich. Of course there might be other options available to him as The Express reported that Chelsea are planning an audacious bid in the January transfer window, as well as the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Arsenal, who are all willing to invest in the Polish number nine who will be out of contract come the summer.
Either way Lewandowski is leaving for a bigger club and a bigger pay packet just like Gotze. And as good as Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan will be as replacements, they are merely that.
Gotze’s goals last night proved that the Bundesliga is not a fairer league than most of it’s European counterparts. It’s quite the opposite. The Premier League has an interesting title race brewing with Arsenal surprisingly heading up the league. Serie A sees Roma, Napoli and Juventus involved with the race for the title in the early stages.
And even where money talks in Ligue 1 with Paris Saint Germain dominating the league at the moment, they will eventually have some form of competition in Monaco in the coming seasons, albeit thanks to, you guessed it: Money.
The Bundesliga, in comparison, will become Bayern’s monopoly once again just like it was back in the early to mid-noughties. No team
can compete with the amount that Bayern have invested in talent, not even the exciting football that Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund produces and will continue to produce.
Their rivalry can be mirrored in both league and Europe. Despite both being finalists, Dortmund still have that underdog tag and could face exit in the group stage to Arsenal and Napoli. Bayern Munich are undoubtedly the best team in Europe at the moment and it will be a huge surprise if they don’t reach the semi-finals once again for the fourth time in five years.
Whilst the football has improved in Germany on a technical level both on the international and domestic scene, the competition has regressed in the past couple of seasons, and will continue to regress. There will always be contenders such as Dortmund and Leverkusen but until there is a billionaire that is willing to invest masses into a German club then the Bundesliga will be a monopoly for a very long time.
Last night’s Der Klassiker has proven a classic situation for the modern times. Modernity wins. Money wins. And for Germany, Bayern wins. Consider this title race over.
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