Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Bayern Munich: Key Talking Points

Haaland injured, Sancho and co. look underwhelming in attack

Usually the sharpest edge of this Dortmund team, the attack seemed rather underwhelming in this bout with Bayern. With Haaland and Lewandowski being touted as the two players to watch throughout the game, neither really put in the type of exemplary showing that we are used to seeing from them.

Haaland was the more energetic of the two in the first half however, with quite a few chances coming his way. However, the young Norwegian striker was unable to capitalize on them. He didn’t look his usual hungry self which off course can happen. The player is young and shouldn’t be expected to carry the team on his shoulders. Dortmund will be more concerned about the fact that the striker will be out for a little while as he sustained a knee injury in the second half. As of now it has been confirmed that he will miss Dortmund’s weekend clash with Paderborn and the team will be hopeful it is a short term injury.

Jadon Sancho also didn’t have the best of games, coming onto the pitch at half time for Julian Brandt. Dortmund’s star winger didn’t start the game because he too has been struggling with injury, and it showed on the pitch as well. Sancho’s runs and passing weren’t nearly as incisive are they usually are, which will be a further worry for Die Schwarzgelben. Despite the race for the title seemingly over, Dortmund will still need to put in a shift to keep 2nd spot, with the likes of Leipzig, Gladbach and Leverkusen not far behind.

Julian Brandt, to my dismay, also didn’t have the game one would’ve hoped for. Favre once again had him playing in the floating 10 role, which looked promising for the first 15 minutes or so, but his influence faded throughout the first half resulting in him being brought off. I’m not sure I fully agree with Favre’s decision to do so, however. Having seen Brandt’s performances in the previous two outings since the Bundesliga restart, there’s no reason why he couldn’t have grown into the game after halftime. A little bit of magic from Brandt could have been what Dortmund needed to overcome Bayern, hence why I feel Favre’s decision was rather hasty, especially since Sancho is not fully fit.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I think its safe to say that the chance of silverware this season is very slim, unless Bayern have a catastrophic dip in form or somehow get stunned in their final games. The only realistic stumbling blocks are Leverkusen away and Gladbach at home at the Allianz.

And even then they would have to further lose one additional game or draw two additionally, and Dortmund would have to win all of their remaining games. At this point, Dortmund are better off planning for next season, with the hope that they will finally be able to overcome the hurdle that is Bayern Munich.