Dortmund 2016-17 Champions League Campaign In Review

DORTMUND, GERMANY — Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League Campaign was a Success. They reached the goal that they set out to achieve, and they fought through some tough adversity on the way.

After the second leg of the quarterfinal tie with Monaco on Wednesday, Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League campaign came to a close. The team came up short in both the home and away legs of the tie, losing on aggregate 6-3.

After spending the 15/16 season playing in the Europa League, Dortmund did not fail to impress with their return to the top of European competition. They left it all on the pitch, and have given their fans good reason to be proud, given the adverse circumstances over the last few weeks.

The Group Stage

The group stage of the 16/17 Champions League saw the Dortmund side go undefeated. In a group featuring Legia Warsaw, Sporting Lisbon, and the Spanish giants Real Madrid, Dortmund did enough to emerge from the group stage of the competition as the Group F winners.

En route to their place at the top of the group, they broke the record for most goals scored in the group stage of the competition, finding the back of the net an impressive 21 times over the course of the 6 matches. They scored an incredible 8 goals in one match, when they played host to Legia Warsaw.

Both matches against Real Madrid were thrillers, and they both finished as 2-2 draws.

Dortmund 6 – 0 Legia Warsaw

Dortmund 2 – 2 Real Madrid

Dortmund 2 – 1 Sporting CP

Dortmund 1 – 0 Sporting CP

Dortmund 8 – 4 Legia Warsaw

Dortmund 2 -2  Real Madrid

Overall, finishing on top of the group with 14 points can be counted as a huge success for Borussia Dortmund. They moved on to their round of 16 fixtures against Benfica.

Round of 16

The first leg of the Round of 16 had Dortmund travelling to Benfica. The Portuguese side emerged on top with a 1-0 victory, with their goal coming Mitroglou (48′) as he fired home after a scramble in the box after a corner. Dortmund had a plethora of chances in the match, including a penalty which Aubameyang failed to convert.

Benfica’s keeper, Ederson, played an incredible match keeping a clean sheet for his side. But the tides would turn in the second leg. In the match in Dortmund, the Black and Yellows were unrelenting, winning by a score of 4-0, to bring the aggregate score for the fixture to be 4-1 in favor of the German side. It was a brilliant match, in which the talented young American, Christian Pulisic, scored his very first European goal (59′).

Dortmund left this match with much momentum heading into the quarterfinal round. They drew the talented French team AS Monaco, in what was sure to promise a scintillating matchup.

Quarterfinal

Things went awry for Dortmund in the quarterfinal round against Monaco. Unfortunately, it wasn’t necessarily all because of how they performed on the pitch.

The team bus left the hotel en route to Signal Iduna Park, and as they pulled out, 3 bombs were detonated, targeting the bus. Defender Marc Bartra sustained injuries to his arm, and his wrist.

Experts seem to say that the team was very lucky, because if the bomb had gone off 1-2 seconds before, there would have been considerably more injuries sustained to the team and the staff.

The conclusion was reached that the 1st leg was to be played on the Wednesday instead of the Tuesday, forcing the Dortmund players to play a match less than 24 hours after an attack on their life. Obviously that is a very difficult situation to be in, and it showed on the pitch. The team was obviously rattled.

Monaco took a 2 goal lead into the half after a goal from their star youngster Mbappé (19′) and a diving header own goal from Bender (35′). Mbappé also scored a goal in the second half, after a bad giveaway from Piszczek. After the half, Tuchel made some changes, bringing on Şahin and Pulisic. Second half goals from Dembélé (57′) and Kagawa (85′) brought them to within one goal heading into the second leg.

In Monaco however, Dortmund were unable to put together enough to advance to the next round. They showed signs of life, but in the end, Monaco were simply too much to handle. Monaco won 3-1, advancing to the semifinal round with an aggregate score of 6-3. The ball just didn’t seem to go Dortmund’s way, but they have nothing to be ashamed of.

Final Thoughts

It’s never fun to get knocked out of the Champions League, but Borussia Dortmund can hold their heads high. It was most definitely a successful run in the competition. At the start of the year Tuchel stated that he wanted to make the quarterfinals, which the team accomplished.

That in itself would count this seasons Champions League efforts as a success, but given what the team has had to deal with in the last few weeks, that is reinforced.

Coupled with the loss of star men Hummels, Mkhitaryan, and Gundogan, the squad that Tuchel was left to work with did their job. With the arrival to Toprak and Dahoud next season, Dortmund will be a force to be reckoned with.

The team displayed their skill and promise for the future. Dortmund are a team loaded with young talent, and will be playing an exciting style of football in the coming years.

There is so much potential for this team, and they will undoubtedly go on to accomplish big things both domestically and in European fields of play.

Was their campaign perfect? No, of course not, but I am willing to say that given the circumstances and adversity that the players had to deal with, this Champions League run was a success. From winning their group with Real Madrid in it to playing with pride in tough times, Dortmund has made their fans proud.

Next season, hopefully we will make a run even deeper into the competition.

HEJA BVB!