
Brandt is back and looks just fine
Julian Brandt made his first start since picking up an injury in Dortmund’s trip to Leverkusen earlier this month. Despite lining up in the front three due to Erling Haaland’s gastritis in the week, Brandt picked up exactly where he left off before the injury.
He was the connecting piece for all of Dortmund’s long ball play, and his flicks constantly misled the defence and got the wingers the ball in promising spots. This was shown on the only goal of the match, where he found Thorgan Hazard who got the game winning assist.
Brandt is a crucial piece for this Dortmund side and getting him back before next week’s trip to Borussia Monchengladbach was crucial.
To see him fit back into the side so seamlessly after missing some time is a great sign for the side. Brandt has often looked like the side’s best player this season and was able to show it in stretches during his return.
Ideally he would be able to line up deeper in the midfield role, but did well in his position higher up the field today and made life easier for the wingers, who had to play more narrow due to Haaland’s absence from the line up.