Dortmund, one could argue, deserves the title for the most improved team in Europe over the last five years. Back to back league titles in 2010/11 and 2011/12 as well as an appearance in the Champions League final only to lose to their biggest rivals in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich, by a whisker, is an incredible feat. Considering that the club was in a steep decline following a “Golden Era” in the nineties where they won the Champions League in 1997, Dortmund’s rise to the cream of the European crop again is pretty special. By the end of the 2007/08 season, Jurgen Klopp, the current manager of Dortmund, took over a team that finished 13th that season. From a fifth place finish in his first season at the helm to a record setting 91 points in the Bundesliga in the 2011/12 season, Dortmund deserved their place amongst Europe’s elite and prestigious clubs once again.
However to replicate both their success in the Bundesliga as well as in the Champions League will be a tough adventure for the men in yellow and black. Despite reaching the final of the biggest club competition in the world, domestically speaking they fell by the wayside last season, as they achieved twenty five points less than Bayern Munich. Even worse for Dortmund is that they were nearly beaten to second place by Bayer Leverkusen, with only a point difference between the two sides. Long story short: Dortmund failed to live up to expectations on the domestic front.
However, I feel that things could be different this season for Klopp’s men. That comes down to the following factors: their transfer business, their fixtures and the opposition in the competitions they are fighting for.
Firstly, Dortmund’s transfer business has been pretty good during the summer months. Although, at first, this was definitely a different story at the end of the last season as Mario Gotze, one of Dortmund’s star players, signed for rivals Bayern Munich for a fee of £32.5 million. Yet Dortmund has made three key additions for a net loss of around just £5 million this summer. Firstly they broke their own transfer record in acquiring Armenian attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Shakhtar Donetsk for £24.2 million who has been in fine form so far, netting three goals. Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Werder Bremen was acquired for the price of £8.3 million and he has potential to be one of the best centre backs in Europe.
However, the best signing thus far comes in the form of Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who was signed from AS Saint-Etienne for £11.4 million. He has contributed a goal a game for Dortmund, and even more strikingly, he has scored more than Dortmund’s main man Robert Lewandowski in less playing time. With that being said, keeping Lewandowski is an important piece of business considering he looked set to move to rivals Bayern Munich or to Manchester United. All of this makes the sale of Mario Gotze seem like a good decision, especially when Gotze is only adding to a massive midfield competition at their rivals.
This leads me to my second point. Borussia Dortmund, realistically speaking, is the only team that can really challenge Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. Bayer Leverkusen may offer up the odd challenge, but it is no surprise that Dortmund are at the top of Germany’s top tier with five wins out of five including an impressive 6-2 victory over Hamburg this past weekend. The points gap created by Jupp Heyncke’s Bayern Munich last season is a precedent that is unlikely to be repeated, because under new manager Pep Guardiola, Bayern will be successful but not as successful, as the transition to Guardiola’s style occurs at the Bavarian club. That’s not to say it won’t be tough for either side since Bayern are clearly the favourites to retain the title but it will definitely be a closer race than on the previous occasions.
On the European front, there is no denying that Dortmund is in an extremely tough group with Arsenal, Napoli and Marseille as their competition. It is safe to say that whilst Marseille are a very good side they are not as good as Arsenal or Napoli. Assuming, and that’s a strong word in this instance, that Dortmund will take six points against Marseille, they still have to find at least six in my opinion to secure their advance into the knockout stages. Napoli look like the slightly easier competition, but they are currently top of the table after three rounds in Serie A, with new purchase Higuain looking like a formidable replacement for Cavani. Arsenal secured four points from Dortmund in the most recent Champions League campaign — the same Dortmund side who set that record 91 points in the Bundesliga that season.
However, times have changed and I reckon that Dortmund could potentially top the table of this group and could get four points from both Napoli and Arsenal. And considering they topped their group last year, which contained Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax (getting 14 points in the process) it would not be surprising if they top their group for the second time running.
The knockout draw is a complete lottery and thus it is hard to predict whether they can repeat that success but I feel that competition to win Europe’s elite prize is limited this year. Personally I think Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona and possibly Juventus and PSG (none of the Premier League sides) are going to be up there come the latter stages of the competition. Therefore it is a real opportunity for Dortmund to replicate their previous successes because they know they can take these teams to their limits.
Apologies for the typical sports-punditry hyperbole but Dortmund are the definition of a ‘well-oiled unit’ and this could give them a significant advantage over other teams which could have frictions between individuals such as Real Madrid and PSG (supposedly). All of this puts Borussia Dortmund in good stead to have another great season and could see them in Lisbon come May.
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