Before I begin, let me just preface this article by
saying that I am a die-hard Borussia Dortmund fan. I have supported the
Schwarzgelbe for a little over seven years now and have seen highs such as
Dortmund’s winning the Double and reaching the Champions League final, as well
as lows such as star after star leaving Signal Iduna Park.
Usually, Der Klassiker is one of the most hotly-contested
matches in world football, as the two German powerhouses Bayern Munich and
Borussia Dortmund go head-to-head. However, the recent edition of this clash
turned out to be a one-sided affair, with the Bavarians going on a rampage and
completely dominating Dortmund, winning 6-0. Adding insult to injury was the
fact that former Dortmund superstar Robert Lewandowski scored a hattrick for
Bayern.
So just how did they get here?
It is remarkable to think that just six years ago,
Dortmund would probably have been favoured to win. At the time, not only were
Dortmund on their way to a Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double, but they were also
stocked with young players who were playing well beyond their years, thus
showing that Dortmund’s future was extremely bright. Players such as Marco
Reus, Lewandowski, Shinji Kagawa, Łukasz Piszczek, and Mario Götze appeared to
be ready to form the nucleus of a team that would win multiple Bundesliga, and
possibly even Champions League, titles.
But not only that – their unconventional, fearless play
style put the rest of Europe on notice, as the team that had seemingly risen
from out of nowhere began to dominate one of the toughest leagues in the world,
despite not playing in a way which many pundits deemed to be sustainable or
conducive to long-term success.
This culminated with a runner-up finish in the 2013
Champions League. Despite losing in the final to Bayern, it seemed as if
Dortmund would be a perennial contender to win the Champions League for at
least the next five years. Furthermore, by this time, experts had warmed to
Jürgen Klopp and his tactics. The former Mainz head coach was now being hailed
as a tactical genius by many of his former critics.
That’s when things began to fall apart. Götze and
Lewandowski soon left, Jakub Błaszczykowski tore his ACL and was never the same
again, the likes of Piszczek, Reus, and Roman Weidenfeller, among others, never
reached the same heights again, and, most crucially of all: at the end of the
2014-15 season, Klopp left to become the head coach of Liverpool.
Klopp had always been Dortmund’s trump card. His coaching
acumen was the driving force behind Dortmund’s rise to prominence in the early
2010s, as well as a shield from the risks Dortmund faced as a small-market
team.
Not being based in a large or glamorous city, as well as
not being as rich a club as most of their European rivals, Borussia Dortmund
always had the deck stacked against them in this regard. A clear sign of the
genius of Jürgen Klopp is the fact that, despite losing Kagawa to Manchester
United in the 2012 off-season, he still led them to the final of the Champions
League. Who knows – perhaps Dortmund with Kagawa win it all in 2013.
Ever since Klopp’s departure, Dortmund have been nowhere
near the level they attained during their peak years under Klopp. Names such as
Peter Stöger, Peter Bosz, and Thomas Tuchel have been in the Dortmund hot seat
since then, and players such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh
Mkhitaryan have come and gone, but without a coach of Klopp’s calibre, Dortmund
have become something of a rudderless ship.
When Dortmund won the DFB-Pokal last season, it was their
first title in five years. Dortmund have never truly contended for the
Champions League title since Klopp’s departure – a shocking turnaround,
considering the fact that they once looked like a dynasty in the making.
Ever since the night of the Champions League final five
years ago, the fortunes of the two teams involved have taken divergent paths.
Until a major change happens at Dortmund, however, the extremely passionate
Yellow Wall, as well as their fellow Dortmund fans the world over, are not
likely to taste Bundesliga, let alone Champions League success, any time soon,
for they now appear to be directionless.
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