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Borussia Dortmund is swearing off the spectacle this season. With seriousness and robustness, we want to achieve what has always been missed in recent years: the championship. One player stands out.
The person celebrating his birthday was extremely tired and just wanted to go to bed. “I’m very happy and tired,” said Julian Brandt when a special working day for him finally ended: In his 300th Bundesliga game, the Borussia Dortmund national player scored a remarkable goal to secure a 1-0 (0-0) victory over Werder Bremen – although he hadn’t exactly felt particularly fresh.
Brandt returned from the international trip to the USA on Wednesday. BVB had him and his national team colleagues Mats Hummels, Niklas Süle and Niclas Füllkrug flown in on a chartered Learjet to give them a little more time to acclimatise before the game on Friday. However, this controversial measure only helped partially. His first night in Dortmund “was fine,” explained Brandt. But from Thursday to Friday he “only slept three hours.” After the intense ninety minutes against Bremen, he was just “fucked up.”
What he was capable of was all the more remarkable. In a game in which there was hardly any space for Dortmund’s offensive players against Bremen’s stable five-man defense chain, Brandt struggled, repeatedly trying to get behind the last line by sprinting. He succeeded once: In the 62nd minute, Felix Nmecha lured the Bremen central defenders out of the reserve, Emre Can played a precise pass through the interface – and Brandt overcame Werder keeper Michael Zetterer with a skillful chip ball. That was enough for BVB to secure their sixth win of the season.
Nmecha also finds its way around better
“Jule played a great game,” said Edin Terzic – and then expressed his great general appreciation for the attacking midfielder, who was controversial in Dortmund for a long time. “He’s becoming more and more important to us from week to week. “He’s someone who likes to take on responsibility – not just on the pitch, but also in the dressing room,” the BVB coach praised the 27-year-old. Brandt managed to get into the dangerous areas very often in the second half of last season and now again in the current one. On Friday he was involved in a goal for the seventh game in a row – he has never been better than this calendar year.
The coach and his current best player: Terzic hugs Brandt
Source: dpa/David Inderlied
Brandt is thus making a significant contribution to the stabilization of BVB. But it’s not just him: Nmecha, who had a difficult start in Dortmund, is now finding his way around better. This and the ever-improving defense have consequences: Dortmund have now been unbeaten in 16 Bundesliga games across all seasons. “We got 66 points from the last 27 games. I don’t know if there are many other European teams that have managed to do that,” said Terzic.
The coach points to ongoing development despite continued criticism of the playing performances. Dortmund are currently enjoying similar success as Leverkusen, Stuttgart or Bayern – but are not playing nearly as spectacularly as their competitors. However, that is not absolutely necessary. “We tried to draw our conclusions: less sexy, more success,” said Terzic. In the past decade, BVB “showed a lot of beautiful football, but in the end it never led to us achieving our maximum goal.”
Now it’s time against really strong opponents
It was part of the plan to make the team more robust and stress-resistant. That’s why a personnel change began in the summer of 2022 and then continued before the current season. And that would now have an impact – even if the championship was lost on the last matchday of last season.
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The new stability can also be seen in how the team recently accepted the difficult situation with the travel demands for the national players. It wasn’t used as an alibi. “This also makes us confident about the tasks ahead,” said Terzic, looking at the difficult challenges that await every three days in the coming weeks. Now it’s time against really strong opponents.
On Wednesday, when BVB has to play against Newcastle United in the Champions League, the team will be under pressure. “We are aware that we have to get some points in the two duels with this very strong and physical team in order to be able to survive in this group,” said Sebastian Kehl. Dortmund are bottom of the table with just one point after two games. “But we have grown together in the last few weeks,” said the sports director: “We have now eaten some food.”
That’s not necessarily sexy either – but it makes you stable.
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