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Player ratings from Borussia Dortmund’s draw with RB Leipzig

By Oliver Campo

DORTMUND, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 26: Mario Gotze of Borussia Dortmund during the German Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund v FC Augsburg at the Signal Iduna Park on February 26, 2018 in Dortmund Germany (Photo by Peter Lous/Soccrates/Getty Images)
DORTMUND, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 26: Mario Gotze of Borussia Dortmund during the German Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund v FC Augsburg at the Signal Iduna Park on February 26, 2018 in Dortmund Germany (Photo by Peter Lous/Soccrates/Getty Images) /
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Borussia Dortmund played out a hard fought 1-1 draw against Leipzig. The defense continued to look easily broken at times. While Michy Batshuayi, who also hasn’t scored since the home game in the Europa League, didn’t find the back of the net today either.

Here are the player ratings for the Borussia Dortmund players from their game against Leipzig.

Roman Burki (6/10)

Goalkeeper still manages to be one of the most difficult positions in football. Sadly the first goal saw Toprak and Akanji being out of formation and leaving space wide open for Leipzig to attack. Burki took the risk involved with coming out to cut off the defender. Made a few decent saves to prevent Leipzig from scoring.

Marcel Schmelzer (6/10)

Schmelzer started the first half with scrappy defending. He made questionable challenges and he is seen too far forward. Dahoud is not compatible with that play style and it left Toprak and Akanji as the last line. He did look threatening at times down the left wing and caused a few problems for Leipzig.

Omer Toprak (6/10)

Personally, I didn’t see Toprak as a great buy during the Peter Bosz era. I also continued to have doubts when Stöger took over. Besides his slip up during the counter-attack Leipzig, Toprak is a solid defender and it is a few more pieces to connect the defensive line together.

Manuel Akanji (5/10)

Manuel Akanji got another start for Borussia Dortmund. Akanji had a difficult time on the pitch as he made some sloppy mistakes. The first was when he couldn’t run back to help Burki during the first goal. The second was when Akanji got caught off-balance blocking the opposition. The ball trickled to Burki and luckily he saved it. Beyond that, Akanji will become important for the upcoming games for BVB.

LEIPZIG, GERMANY – MARCH 03: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been digitally enhanced.) Marcel Schmelzer of Dortmund is disappointed during the Bundesliga match between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund at Red Bull Arena on March 3, 2018 in Leipzig, Germany. (Photo by Simon Hofmann/Bundesliga/DFL via Getty Images)
LEIPZIG, GERMANY – MARCH 03: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been digitally enhanced.) Marcel Schmelzer of Dortmund is disappointed during the Bundesliga match between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund at Red Bull Arena on March 3, 2018 in Leipzig, Germany. (Photo by Simon Hofmann/Bundesliga/DFL via Getty Images) /

Lukasz Piszczek (5/10)

Lukasz Piszczek is starting to lose his footing while playing. Poor passes and bad timing are common elements of his game today. Piszczek is the still the number one rightback, but I believe Jeremy Toljan is going to be in contention for that soon. Piszczek is great on defense, but he is making more errors than he had prior to injury.

Mahmoud Dahoud (7/10)

Dahoud was a mixed bag of success and failure during the first half. Poor decision-making from Dahoud led the opposition to create easy counter attacks. Dahoud had an assist to his name today, but also a yellow card for a dumb challenge late in the first half. In the second half, Dahoud showed some more potential with his forward runs. Nearly created the winner for Batshuayi, but the latter couldn’t finish. Had his best game in a Dortmund shirt.

Julian Weigl (6/10)

Evil Julian Weigl returned to action with a yellow card at the 32nd minute. Weigl always makes runs to support the defense. If Weigl sees more cards in the future, it is understandable. He found his form again and his making great choices when in possession.

Gotze comes off for returning Maximilian Philipp
LEIPZIG, GERMANY – MARCH 03: Maximilian Philipp of Borussia Dortmund enters the pitch during the Bundesliga match between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund at the Red Bull Arena on March 03, 2018 in Leipzig, Germany. (Photo by Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund/Getty Images) /

André Schurrle (4/10)

André Schurrle’s form dipped for the worse during the first half. He was the reason which the first goal against Borussia Dortmund happened. It was a dangerous loss of the ball in BVB’s half to Naby Keita, who created the chance for Leipzig. Schurrle still is an effective winger, but he happened to be ineffective today. Overall, the former Chelsea player didn’t create much of an impact while on the ball either.

Mario Gotze (5/10)

Mario Gotze provides and never gives up when there is a chance to win the ball. The mental fortitude he brings on the pitch is game-changing. Gotze maintained strong attacking possession to link up the offense together. Unfortunately, not a lot of it worked out for him. Gotze was subbed off for Maximilian Philipp at the 77th minute. A difficult night for the German.

Marco Reus (6/10)

Marco Reus and Michy Batshuayi were caught offside’s a lot during the first half. Eventually, Reus did place a beautiful pass from Dahoud into the back of the net, but it is easy to see the difficulties he suffered through today. Any attempt Reus sent into the box was snuffed out, and he showed a tired expression by the end of it all. He came off for Christian Pulisic at the 88th minute.

Michy Batshuayi is still looking to find his goal scoring touch for BVB
LEIPZIG, GERMANY – MARCH 03: Michy Batshuayi of Borussia Dortmund in action during the Bundesliga match between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund at the Red Bull Arena on March 03, 2018 in Leipzig, Germany. (Photo by Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund/Getty Images) /

Michy Batshuayi (4/10)

Michy Batshuayi brought promise in the first half. The issue is he consistently was called offside, with some of those calls being debatable. Batshuayi is flashy and shows a lot of class, yet he has not scored a goal in some time. Sadly, his frustration after losing the ball in the second half led to his second yellow card. It didn’t help he could not put away a clear chance from three feet out.

Subs

Maximilian Philipp (6/10)

Philipp made his return to the senior squad, coming on for Mario Gotze. Philipp’s presence on the field is great for the player. The 13 minutes equaled to a decent starting point for Philipp, he is expected to play more.

Christian Pulisic (NR)

Christian Pulisic got 4 minutes of play today. Pulisic saw a cross into the box and didn’t do much beyond that.

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