It has been quite a year made up of two diverse parts for Borussia Dortmund. In this calendar year, ‘Der BVB’ have took part in a UEFA Champions League final where they were eventually beaten by rivals FC Bayern München. The footballing world fell in love with their illustrious organisation as their provision as well as the football on exhibition caught everybody’s eye. The displays that the BVB fans presented before their big encounters were truly remarkable and the choreography was incredible. The Borussia Dortmund players matched these expositions as their performances had a ‘Gung-Ho’ effect with many devotees loving this type of footballing theatre.
When enthusiasts were about to give up on them in the quarter final against Spanish team Málaga CF, ‘Der Schwarzgelben’ sprung a surprise to numerous watching this conflict. They were losing 2-1 in the contest, needing two goals to go through with diminutive time left on the clock. Marco Reus equalled the tie on the night with a left footed ‘tap in’ as Málaga CF demonstrated to many on how not to defend long balls. This started to give the BVB crowd around the Signal Iduna Park hope and as the ball went out for a throw in just before the eruption you could feel that something was on the horizon. From this throw in the ball was lumped into the box, as it was quite evident that the Spanish defenders were panicking. It eventually fell to the in form Robert Lewandowski as he smashed it across the area with his left foot forming a scramble about three yards out from goal with former player Felipe Santana knocking the ball home.
This was enough to send the Germans into the semi final of the UEFA Champions League and it demonstrated the velocity of Borussia Dortmund as an organisation. They met another Spanish crew, Real Madrid and managed to scrape through as they achieved to hammer the Spanish giants 4-1 at home with the Robert Lewandowski scoring four goals in the first leg. ‘Die Borussen’ succeeded to hold in the Spanish capital and were going to Wembley to play their rivals FC Bayern München. The Bavarians eventually beat Borussia Dortmund but they captured the hearts of the football world, as many loved witnessing their European romance throughout the season.
Nevertheless, this season has been very different for Borussia Dortmund. They have simply struggled. BVB have been blighted with injuries and they have looked majorly weak when coming up against teams in the Bundesliga. ‘Der Schwarzgelben’ has unfortunately been awarded with the injury curse with them having seven starting players on the recovery list. These players include Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Marcel Schmelzer, Ilkay Gundogen, Lukasz Piszczek, Nuri Sahin and Sven Bender.
These grievances have clearly influenced Borussia Dortmund’s season so far as they only managed to squeeze through their UEFA Champions League group after they defeated Olympique Marseille on the final match day in France. Borussia Dortmund have had to give playing time to individuals that have hardly no experience. The example of this downfall would be the mistake made by Marian Sarr when he gave the ball away for the second goal Hertha BSC scored before the break on Saturday. The defence has been the main reason for the recent performance drop as the pressure has been plummeted to the men upfront and they simply have not delivered.
The poor run of form has cost BVB dearly as they sit in an unusual position of fourth place in the league as they were once again defeated in the evening kick off at home the Hertha BSC. There is no chance Borussia Dortmund are in the title race either as FC Bayern München are twelve points clear of them and it does not seem that the Bavarians will drop any points. BVB have played seventeen games and have thirty-two points with a goal difference of plus eighteen. They have won ten games, drawn two and lost five scoring thirty-eight and conceding twenty goals in the Bundesliga this term.
Manager Jürgen Klopp put it to the press that losing before the winter break is no the ideal situation, he expressed, “This has been a terrible end to the year, but it could precede a fantastic start to 2014.” Klopp went on to revise the special moments of 2013 as he conveyed his thoughts, “One must always be grateful and humble in life, these greats lads have already written some great stories this year, and today it was different”. But drawing on the defeat to Hertha BSC he explained in a humourous manner, “This is a sh***y end to 2013”. BVB have only won one game in their last six before the winter break.
It is evident that Borussia Dortmund need to strengthen and especially in their defence. They were always vulnerable to injuries as their squad is not deep enough to keep with this velocity of damages. When you compare their squad to FC Bayern München they unfortunately do not even meet the criteria for the group the Bavarians are in. But many of the BVB will trust ‘Kloppo’ and you have to believe that he must have something up his sleeve.