Victory pose in Freiburg: Mats Hummels (right) cheers, Niclas Füllkrug congratulates. Image: dpa
If the future national coach sees that: 34-year-old Mats Hummels is not only Dortmund’s most stable central defender, he is also Borussia’s most important leader – and a phenomenon.
Mats Hummels gave up his captaincy in the summer. He also withdrew from the team council. These steps could be interpreted as a sign of a slow retreat. At some point in the spring, the Borussia Dortmund central defender even asked himself whether he would like to end his career slowly, perhaps in the United States or in another league where life is interesting but the football profession is no longer quite as challenging . It is all the more astonishing that after four match days of the new Bundesliga season, Hummels is the most important leader of Borussia Dortmund without any office. This has been proven with good arguments at least since the 4-2 win at SC Freiburg.
The 34-year-old defender contributed two groundbreaking goals to this success, making him the sixth player in more than 60 years of Bundesliga history to score at least one goal in 16 consecutive seasons. The fans shouted his name after the final whistle, and Hummels said with satisfaction that his team had “engaged” in this difficult and in some moments very unpleasant game against the intensely playing Freiburg team.
