Borussia Dortmund vs Hertha Berlin: Match Ratings

Borussia Dortmund took their penalties well and advanced to the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals once again. Obviously, it was a mixed bag of ratings for the home side in an uneven affair.

I know the formation that Borussia Dortmund played wasn’t a 4-1-4-1 for large portions of the match, but it made for an easy translation to the lineup card so I went with it.

GK: Burki: 7.5

In regular time Burki once again just didn’t have much to do. One poor distribution sticks out to me, but the goal Hertha Berlin scored can’t be his fault. The real match rating came from the penalty performance. He took total command of the spotlight and made me quite happy Weidenfeller didn’t get the start.

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LB: Schmelzer: 6

Subbed off at half-time in Thomas Tuchel’s attempt to switch tactics, Schmelzer didn’t really have a huge influence as a wing-back. He got forward on a number of occasions, he was near enough to the confusion after the Bartra turnover to take some blame for the lone Hertha Berlin goal.

CB: Bartra: 6.5

The most difficult player to judge for me this match. I love his through balls out of defense and the one setting up a chance that threaded through the entire defense was pure magic. But…. his turnover did lead to the goal that gave Hertha Berlin the lead. I have seen improvement in his defending, leading me to believe there is much to be hopeful for.

CB: Sokratis: 5.5

Sokratis absolutely fell asleep and it should have resulted in a goal. He was his normal steady self defensively for Borussia Dortmund, but I can’t get past the almost red card early in the match and the silly red card at the end.

RB: Piszczek: 5

Piszczek is quickly becoming my least favorite player. His defending is just fine in most instances, but there is always a far post cross that he can’t defend. That was the case on the Hertha Berlin goal. He also offered nothing but lateral balls and balls to Durm that were so predictable they came right back at him.

DM: Julian Weigl: 6.5

With Guerreiro coming deeper to help out as the match went along, Weigl didn’t need to control the match as much as he normally has to. As a result, he gave a ho-hum output other than one pass that cut through the defense and set up what should have been a goal.

RM: Durm: 6

No matter the situation or opponent I could give Durm a six seemingly every match. He is just fine at everything being asked of him.

Next: Borussia Dortmund into the quarter finals of DFB Pokal

CM: Dembele: 7

Dembele grows week in and week out. It has almost gotten to the point that Borussia Dortmund seems to give him the ball every time and ask him to be the sole creator. He was magical once again.

CM: Guerreiro: 6

With Guerreiro dropping deeper he just didn’t have the normal opportunities further up the field to open up the defenses. His performance was completely average for me.

LM: Reus: 6.5

He scored a sitter, which is more than over the weekend. Take that goal away and Reus did very little. He will need to snap out of it soon if Borussia Dortmund is to have a chance in the Champions League.

ST: Aubameyang: 5.5

Another pedestrian performance for Aubameyang that left chances on the table. The nature of Aubameyang’s game is when the goals are going in he is amazing, but when they aren’t he really doesn’t contribute much to the build up or chance creation.

SUB 1: Pulisic: 7

Pulisic changed the game coming on at half time. Between him and Dembele, Borussia Dortmund has two players who can influence a match instantly. At this point, I love seeing Pulisic coming on as a second-half substitute with plenty of time to play. He can absolutely destroy the poor tired out defenders tasked with staying in front of the youngster.

SUB 2: Ginter: 6.5

Was sturdy enough in his half plus extra time. Nothing he did really stood out for me, but contributing to a goalless stretch that long for BVB deserves a nice rating.

SUB 3+4:

Schurrle and Castro didn’t do much for me and I’ll just give them a combined 6 although perhaps Castro should get a half point bump for scoring a penalty.

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