AFTER the way last season ended, Borussia Dortmund fans can be forgiven for regarding the optimism many share in their side’s title hopes for the new Bundesliga campaign with extreme caution.
Unbeaten through their first 15 games, Dortmund were 2018/19’s pace setters in the German top flight. And even when indifference gripped their form in the season’s final months, an elusive first title since 2012 appeared within grasping range, only to be snatched away – crushingly, predictably – by Bayern at the last.
On the evidence of the first two matchdays of the new season, though, Lucien Favre’s men have not allowed the disappointment of the previous term to dampen their determination to end Bayern’s seven-year Bundesliga hegemony.
No one inside Signal Iduna Park will be getting carried away with BVB’s maximum points and eight goals scored from their first two games, but there is ample reason to believe that this, finally, will be their year.
With just two points separating the champions from the top contenders, last season’s Bundesliga title race was the closest in Bayern’s run of uninterrupted triumphs. Dortmund have been closing the gap under Favre, and the strength of their transfer business this summer means they will be more able to sustain their form across the whole campaign.
Headlining their impressive incomings is the return of Mats Hummels. At €30.5m, the 30-year-old is the costliest of BVB’s new recruits, but the 2014 World Cup winner adds a degree of leadership and authority at the back that this young Dortmund side have desperately lacked in recent years.
Complementing the experience upgrade Hummels offers is the relative youth and exuberance of Dortmund’s three other major summer signing, all of whom possess proven Bundesliga pedigree while being overdue a chance at a Champions League-level side.
I think we can all agree that @JulianBrandt's first career BVB goal was one to remember pic.twitter.com/FRO8HW14Aw
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) August 21, 2019
The versatile 23-year-old Julian Brandt emerged as an exciting, two-footed winger with Bayer Leverkusen some years ago, and has evolved into a more considered creative force from a deeper, central position over the last 18 months. Linked in previous transfer windows with moves to Bayern and Liverpool, the German international will help Dortmund unpick stubborn, deep-set defences.
Thorgan Hazard has joined from Borussia Monchengladbach, where he had stepped out of his brother Eden’s shadow to establish himself as one of the most potent attackers in the Bundesliga. Able to play on either flank or centrally behind a striker, the Belgian is a threat from anywhere within 25 yards of goal and has the speed and skill to create chances for others.
And finally, there is the arrival of 26-year-old Nico Shulz, a €25m buy from Hoffenheim. The 26-year-old can play anywhere up the left side and will rotate with Raphaël Guerreiro, the gifted, yet injury-prone Portuguese international.
Look at this Benjamin Pavard pass. Best assist you with see today. pic.twitter.com/qDIeXF2i6D
— Swype Sports ™ (@SwypeSports) July 26, 2019
There is a distinct sense of forethought and savvy to Dortmund’s business this summer that has perhaps been lacking at the Allianz Arena. The signings of French World Cup winners Benjamin Pavard, from Stuttgart, and Lucas Hernandez, a club-record €80m buy from Atletico Madrid, should be mainstays of the Bayern backline for the best part of the next decade. But the late-in-the-window loan arrivals of Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Perisic smack of desperation in light of losing both Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.
It’s not just Dortmund’s incoming deals that have impressed this summer, either; their sales have been equally astute, losing only players they can afford to live without. Abdou Diallo, for example, proved a fine centre-back with a high ceiling last season, but the €32m Paris Saint-Germain have paid for the Frenchman represents a sound return. Likewise, the deal which has seen BVB recoup the €20m they paid to sign Maximilian Philipp last year, with the former Freiburg forward joining Dinamo Moscow after a lukewarm season at Signal Iduna Park.
But for all their stellar transfer business, Dortmund’s readiness to challenge Bayern is founded on the players they’ve kept, the squad Favre continues to eke every drop of potential from.
Jadon Sancho‘s last four games in all competitions:
⚽️ ️ vs. Bayern Munich
❌ vs. KFC Uerdingen
⚽️ ️ vs. Augsburg
⚽️ ️ vs. FC KölnAlready having a beast of a season! #SLH #Sancho pic.twitter.com/6CO4VW8HUU
— ⚽SOCCER LIVES HERE⚽ (@Soccerliveshere) August 27, 2019
There were rumours of interest from Manchester United, to the tune of £100m, in Jadon Sancho, but the 19-year-old English phenomenon has stayed put and has already contributed two goals and two assists in his first two league games of the season.
Now 30, past injuries mean Marco Reus will likely never become one of the best two or three players in the world as he once had the potential to, but, thanks to a continued, merciful run of fitness, the brilliant forward leads this young BVB side, knitting together midfield and attack and reliably producing defining moments in the biggest games. On his day, there is no one better in Germany.
Secured on a permanent deal in February after impressing on loan from Barcelona, Spanish striker Paco Alcacer has hit the ground running this season, with three goals in two games, filling the void Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s sale to Arsenal left in the Dortmund attack 18 months ago.
With such strength in depth and a starting XI able to carve up opponents in any number of ways, it’s difficult to pinpoint Dortmund’s weakness.
Bayern may have already dropped points this season but they remain title favourites. Backed by a level of wealth no Bundesliga club can match and a culture of winning the envy of any sporting institution, they sit almost immovably at the top of German football.
This season, however, Dortmund are the irresistible force aimed at toppling Bayern from their perch.
