Borussia Dortmund Player Ratings From Dismantling of FC Magdeburg

Borussia Dortmund cruised to a 5-0 victory over FC Magdeburg, securing placement in the next round of the DFB-Pokal.

Gonazlo Castro, Alexander Isak, Andriy Yarmolenko, Marc Bartra and Shinji Kagawa all scored in the rout for Der BVB, who were too strong for the third tier side. Here are Borussia Dortmund’s player ratings from the match.

Roman Bürki (6/10)

Bürki made a couple of routine saves and punched the ball clear on one or two corners, but wasn’t really called upon in this game.

Marcel Schmelzer (6/10)

It was a fairly average performance from Schmelzer. He has yet to find his form after coming back from injury, but it was encouraging to see him play 60 minutes. More importantly, Schmelzer led his team well through their rough first half. After a particularly poor pass from Phillip went out of bounds, for example, he immediately turned and applauded his teammate for the idea. After Castro’s goal, he flew over to Isak to commend him on his assist. It wasn’t a vintage performance, but it’s good to have the captain back.

Dan-Axel Zagadou (6/10)

Overall, Zagadou played well at center-back. There were one or two moments where he looked uncomfortable in possession, but by and large he played well. It’s easy to forget how young he is. If he refines his play with the ball at his feet, Zagadou can become a world class defender.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos (6/10)

The defense as a whole played well, pushing up as a team and forcing the opponents into offside positions. Sokratis was no different, but made a couple of mistakes. In the first half, he attempted to clear the ball out of Dortmund’s box with a backheel. It didn’t come off and fell to a Magdeburg player. Luckily, the chance came to nothing, but it was a clear mental lapse for the Dortmund center-back. Sokratis also had a couple of unnecessary fouls, earning himself a yellow card. The silly challenges have become regular occurrences for Sokratis, and are something he needs to work out of his game.

Marc Bartra (7/10)

Bartra was left unguarded to head home a perfect cross from Kagawa after a short corner in the second half. It capped off an offensive night from the makeshift right-back. He’s always been attacking-minded, and is clearly enjoying the freedom to move into more attacking positions that the wing-back position allows. But against Magdeburg, he often strayed too far forward, creating holes in the Dortmund defense, and lost the ball repeatedly dribbling up the right sideline. He’s just not a right-back.

Nuri Sahin (6/10)

It wasn’t Sahin’s best game. He certainly didn’t do anything flashy — other than a couple of poor shots from distance. But he won a couple of challenges in midfield, preventing Magdeburg counter -attacks. He was calm on the ball, and gave his teammates an outlet when they needed one.

Mahmoud Dahoud (6/10)

Dahoud’s game was cut short after around 40 minutes. He collided Magdeburg’s Richard Weil, and came of feeling the back of his neck. Dortmund, taking no precautions, took Dahoud to the hospital. Hopefully, he’ll make a speedy recovery.

Shinji Kagawa (7/10)

Itwas a weird night from Kagawa. He assisted one goal and scored another, but was otherwise completely uninvolved. The assist was a lovely cross into the box off a short corner that Bartra easily put away. The 90th minute goal was a thing of beauty. Phillip gave the ball a little flick into the box for Kagawa, who cut back on the defender to get his shot off. It was a perfect way to end the game, but Kagawa has to show up earlier.

Maximillian Phillip (7/10)

Phillip’s first half started out with a brutal miss on an open goal rebounding off the post in the first few minutes. What followed was an uneventful 40 minutes in which he (and the rest of the team) disappeared. Phillip was mostly quiet in the second half, but popped up twice to nab himself a pair of assists. The first was a straightforward layoff into the path of Alexander Isak, and the second was a gorgeous little flick into the box for Kagawa. It would’ve been good to see Phillip more involved throughout the whole 90 minutes, but no one will complain about his performance.

Andriy Yarmolenko (7/10)

Yarmolenko was completely invisible in he first 40 minutes or so, but soon found his footing and ran rampant on Magdeburg. The first goal came from his fantastic cross, after a clever run and some quick feet won him a little space on the wing. He played a part in Isak’s goal and put away a no-nonsense penalty with confidence. It was a solid game from the Ukrainian.

Alexander Isak (8/10)

What a statement first start for Borussia Dortmund. Isak put his first mark on the game with a brilliant assist for Dortmund’s first goal. He showed good awareness, heading Yarmo’s cross back past goal to Castro, who made no mistakes one-on-one with the keeper.

From then on, Isak was positively dominant. He scored a goal of his own just after halftime. Isak actually created this goal himself, winning a challenge to get the ball as Dortmund were on the counter. After laying the ball off, he continued his run into the box, received the ball from Phillip and cooly nutmegged the keeper to get himself on the score-sheet.

Isak’s performance didn’t stop here. He was absolutely everywhere throughout the second half, dropping back into his own half when Dortmund lost the ball with numbers forward and popping up on the wings. He looked dangerous and confident with the ball, despite being just 18. Isak showed that Dortmund fans don’t need to panic every time Aubameyang needs a rest. This game was his big chance, and he grabbed it by the throat.

Substitutes

Gonzalo Castro (7/10)

Dortmund were looking slow and toothless for most of the first half. After the chance from Phillip went begging in the opening moments of the game, Dortmund failed to get into a rhythm and couldn’t create opportunities in front of goal. Dahoud’s injury forced Bosz to make an early change, and Castro came on just before halftime. Castro hadn’t been on the pitch for a full minute yet when he took his first touch of the ball and put it in the back of the net. Castro didn’t do much for the rest of the game, but it was his goal that put Dortmund in the drivers seat, and they never looked back.

Raphaël Guerreiro (7/10)

It was so good to see Guerreiro back on the pitch again. It looked like he hadn’t missed a day. He was dangerous whenever he had the ball, taking players on with confidence and skill and passing the ball brilliantly. Despite making constant runs up the sideline, he consistently got back and provided cover defensively. He was energetic throughout his time on the pitch. Guerreiro adds something special to this Dortmund side, and it’s good to see him back.

Andre Schurrle (N/R)

Made his injury return with just 15 minutes to go. Dortmund fans will be hoping that he can now stay fit and provide depth to the side.

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Borussia Dortmund: Player ratings from dismantling of FC Magdeburg

By Asher Woodbury | Oct 25, 2017