Borussia Dortmund: Winners and losers from the season so far

By Tushar Bahl | Mar 14, 2020

Dortmund's English midfielder Jadon Sancho celebrate scoring during the German first division Bundesliga football match BVB Borussia Dortmund vs Eintracht Frankfurt, in Dortmund, western Germany on February 14, 2020. (Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP) / RESTRICTIONS: DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND/OR QUASI-VIDEO (Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images) /

5 of 6

Manuel Akanji has finally been benched after a string of error prone displays. (Photo by Max Maiwald/DeFodi Images via Getty Images) /

Loser: Manuel Akanji (and the frozen out players)

Manuel Akanji went into the season with high expectation that he would kick on and become one of the team’s key players. The Swiss centre-back had made an excellent start to life at Dortmund since his January 2018 move. His excellent defending and leadership earned him a lot of admirers.

That world-class potential prompted Borussia Dortmund to sell Abdou Diallo last summer, with the BVB bosses believing that Manuel Akanji and Mats Hummels would form a rock-solid partnership.

But the Swiss international has crumbled under the expectations this season, proving to be error prone and sloppy more often than not. His mistakes cost the team quite a few points, before he was eventually dropped last month. It didn’t help that Lucien Favre kept picking him when it was clear to the world that he needed dropping.

Speaking of Favre’s poor man-management, a number of players have been frozen out this season, with few departing the club in January. The likes of Nico Schulz, Mahmoud Dahoud, Mateu Morey and Leonardo Balerdi have hardly been used this season, becoming victims of their coach’s dislike for rotating and resting key players.

Home/Borussia Dortmund News