First off, I’m fully aware that I’m not even trying to be professional or impartial with the title. That being said: I could not care less. As a Borussia Dortmund fan for more than 13 years, this was one of those “core memory” matches that almost never come around.
The Bundesliga’s latest edition of Der Klassiker saw a seemingly-impenetrable fortress finally go down. For the first time since 2014, Borussia Dortmund won an away league match against Bayern Munich. Die Schwarzgelbe’s 2-0 victory at the Allianz Arena snapped a nine-match losing streak at Bayern over which Dortmund had scored just eight goals against 37 conceded.
However, this time around things were completely different. When Karim Adeyemi—born and raised in Munich and who even spent time training in Bayern’s youth academy during his childhood—opened the scoring in the 10th minute, one could sense that this would not be any ordinary Klassiker. Though Bayern continued to push, they were never able to turn their possession advantage into genuinely meaningful goalscoring opportunities.
Bayern were eventually made to pay for that. Seven minutes from the end of regulation time, Norwegian right-back Julian Ryerson made it 2-0 to seal Dortmund’s victory. To add insult to injury, Harry Kane later had a goal which would have cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into stoppage time disallowed following a VAR review. And, to top it all off, in a post-match interview Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel, who will leave the club at the end of the season, outright admitted that his club which have won the league title every year since the 2012-13 season will be unable to defend their crown.
Following their loss, Bayern now trail runaway league leaders Bayer Leverkusen by 13 points with just seven matches to be played. Dortmund, on the other hand, strengthened their position in their pursuit of a Champions League spot, pulling three points clear of RB Leipzig who dropped crucial points following a goalless home draw against Mainz.
It’s almost impossible to understate just how big of a watershed moment this was for Dortmund. Over the past decade, even at times when Bayern looked vulnerable or Dortmund were on a hot streak, it was clear that Bayern lived rent-free in Dortmund’s head. With this hoodoo-breaking victory, Dortmund not only gained crucial ground in the case for the top four; even more importantly, from this point forth they’re likely to think “why can’t we beat Bayern?” It’s exactly this shift in mentality that’ll probably change their approach to future Bayern matches and - at long last after so many years - make them once again a formidable opponent for the Bavarian powerhouse.
We don’t even have to go all that far back. If we look at all Der Klassiker matchups prior to this one, Dortmund had not won any of the last 11 - including the most recent one when they were destroyed by a 4-0 scoreline at home. It was incredibly clear that Dortmund were playing with fear and a total lack of belief. There was no fight, no spirit - absolutely nothing that could engender even the slightest idea that Dortmund had even a sliver of what it would take to at least have a puncher’s chance against Bayern.
However, perhaps buoyed by Bayern’s struggles in the league this season, it was clear that in the most recent match, this was nothing like the Dortmund team that were taken apart at Signal Iduna Park back in November. They rightly perceived that Bayern were at their most vulnerable - and instead of cowering in the moment as has too often been the case, they stepped all the way up and, in perhaps their best single-match performance in years, claimed three points that could very well make the difference between qualifying for next season’s Champions League and dropping down into the Europa League instead.
Is it still too early to jump to conclusions about Borussia Dortmund? Without a doubt. That being said, this single match might have been the catalyst - the moment when everything changed. Having gotten over what appeared to be an insurmountable mental block, Dortmund have every reason to proceed with such a weight off their shoulders. And who knows - with Bayern struggling the way they are, do keep in mind that Dortmund are just seven points behind Bayern with seven matches to play - and more unlikely events have transpired before…
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