Borussia Dortmund's wait for a first Bundesliga title since 2012 might have continued, but they still have a lot to celebrate this season.
It's not only their highest league finish since 2023 or the highest points tally in seven years. But the BVB also stastistically had the best defense in the division.
With just 34 goals conceded in 34 games, no other team in the German top-tier shipped in as few as Dortmund. Yes, not even champions Bayern Munich, who let in 36 goals.
This underlines just how mean a side Dortmund had been this season in the league, a claim further highlighted by their club record of 15 clean sheets registered during this run too.
Only in their title-winning 2011-12 and then in 2019-20 season have Die Borussen registered as many clean sheets in 34 games of a league season.
It's also worth noting that four of them came in their opening five games alone as the BVB got off to the 2025-26 season on a barnstorming note, looking determined to challenge Bayern for the title.
In fact, Dortmund had conceded just seven goals from their opening 10 games as their defense was highly obdurate earlier on.
Although that rate of clean sheets steadily declined as the season went on, they were still a tough side to beat and to score against.
In fact, there were only 11 instances wherein an opposing team managed to score two or more goals, with only Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and St. Pauli managing to do it both home and away.
No team managed to score four goals in a single league game against Dortmund for the first time since 2014-15 season. Not even Bayern, who have struck four times in many of the recent Der Klassikers.
To further tell you just how good they've been defensively, the BVB conceded 17 goals fewer than what they managed last season as the side made remarkable improvements at the back.
Kovac switched to a back-three formation with Nico Schlotterbeck, Waldemar Anton and Ramy Bensebaini. The centre-back troika forged a stoic defensive partnership with their exemplary vision and communication, while Luca Reggiani also proved to be an effective back during the home stretch of the campaign.
Thirty four goals is the lowest they have conceded in the Bundesliga since the 2015-16 season when Dortmund shipped in an identical number of goals, while only in their title-winning 2011-12 campaign have the Black and Yellows shipped in fewer (25 goals).
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