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Passionate, persistent, masterful vs. fearful, hesitant, miserable

BVB as leaders in the end of the season to Munich? That was almost exactly four years ago. The game became a show of power for Bayern.

When nothing worked: BVB is served, Bayern celebrate one of their five goals.

imago images / Michael Weber

The situation was similar on April 6, 2019. Dortmund, Lucien Favre’s team, was two points ahead of Bayern. With a win in Munich, the Westphalians would have eaten up a decent amount of points. After all, the summit meeting only took place on the 28th matchday at the time, as it is now on the 26th matchday.

That Bayern won the game was one thing – the “how” was another. 5:0!

But how did it come about that kicker chose the adjectives “passionate, persistent, masterly” in the headline of its following Monday edition for Bayern’s appearance? And for BVB “anxious, hesitant, pathetic”?

First and foremost because Bayern coach Niko Kovac made the right decisions – and Favre made many wrong ones. Kovac was under pressure after the knockout round in the Champions League against Liverpool, a 1-1 draw in Freiburg and the trembling victory in the cup against Heidenheim (5: 4). He stabilized the midfield against BVB with Javi Martinez, and he also relied on Thomas Müller instead of James to increase the pace and mobility of the offensive.

The beneficiary was Robert Lewandowski, who scored two of the five goals against his former club. The Pole then raved about “a perfect 45 minutes” and for him the first half was “the best this season”. At this point it was already 4-0 after goals from Mats Hummels, Lewandowski, Martinez and Serge Gnabry.

So Bayern whirled. But they also met a grateful opponent who – it shouldn’t be forgotten – even almost took the lead. Mahmoud Dahoud hit the post in the 6th minute, Manuel Neuer (first game after an injury break) would have had no chance. The fact that Dahoud, along with Dan-Axel Zagadou, was the only player to receive the kicker grade 6 is another story of this one-sided summit meeting. The midfielder, who had impressed in BVB’s 3-2 win in the first leg after being substituted on, bowed out of the game after his chance.

Reus in an unloved role

Favre justified his line-up by saying that he wanted to generate speed with players “who can run deep”. He had to do without the injured striker Paco Alcacer. But Favre did not order the dimensionally stable Mario Götze to the top, but Marco Reus – a position that the offensive player, according to his own statement, does not exactly value.

Well-established processes were lost as a result, and Reus received no support from Dahoud, Thomas Delaney or Axel Witsel. “It’s easy to say that wasn’t a good idea,” Favre said afterwards. According to the motto: After that you are always smarter. The fact that he also relied on the veteran Lukasz Piszczek (grade 5) after an eight-week break was another mistake by the Swiss that he could have foreseen.

If you win, you haven’t done anything right. If you lose, you’ve done everything wrong.

Also unforgettable is Kovac’s ready-to-say statement, who vented his anger at the criticism in the previous weeks. “If you win, you haven’t done anything right. If you lose, you’ve done everything wrong,” he became almost philosophical. Everyone must “have the right to claim: What I don’t want someone to do to me, I don’t do to anyone else. That’s the word for Sunday,” he said.

And what happened next? Bayern made two more mistakes (1-1 in Nuremberg, 0-0 in Leipzig), but BVB also slipped up twice (2-4 against Schalke, 2-2 in Bremen). Ultimately, the Dortmunders were two points behind just that one win in Munich for the title.

Incidentally, according to Uli Hoeneß, the seventh bowl in a row would not even have been mandatory. “Even if we finish second, it won’t be a disaster,” he said after the game against Dortmund. A way of thinking that will not prevail in Munich, as was recently learned.

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