Roundtable: Can Borussia Dortmund advance to the Europa League quarterfinals?

Yahya Alikhan

A club that was once defeating Europe’s top teams is now struggling to go through to the Europa League quarterfinals. Borussia Dortmund find themselves in a position where a poor result against FC Salzburg will see them knocked out of the UEFA Europa League, leaving Dortmund without a trophy to win this season. With the big decider coming up, what can the club do to keep their hopes alive?

Stoger must develop a solid game plan: After previous performances, one can only come to a conclusion that Peter Stoger hasn’t developed a “tactical philosophy” at Dortmund. Although we have seen a mild improvement in the defensive department, Stoger has ultimately sucked the life out of a young and talented side.

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RB Salzburg have a clear identifiable tactical pattern which puts a major emphasis on playing the ball with a strong focus on the middle of the pitch. If Stoger can exploit their midfield and keep them quiet on the wings then Dortmund can control the game.

All the players need to pull their weight if Dortmund want to have a chance to go through to the next leg. The team can simply not rely on individual performances from players such as Reus or Batshuayi, but the entire team needs to pull through and turn their season around.

The midfield is key: If Dortmund can dominate in the middle of the park then they should finish with a positive result. As mentioned before RB Salzburg focus heavily on controlling the midfield. But if Dortmund can dominate the midfield then we can expect a lot of service to the main man up front Batshuayi.

After a brilliant start, the Belgian international went through a small goal drought. The reason? Not enough service from the midfield. And against Frankfurt, Batshauyi was given opportunities from the midfield and he buried them to perfection. Weigl, Dahoud, and Gotze have a task ahead of them to give Batsman the performance we all deserve.