Borussia Dortmund are enjoying a fast start to life in the new Bundesliga season after winning their opening four games. They are also the only team with a 100% win record in the German top-flight heading into the international break. Although it's still early days - with 30 more rounds to go - expectations from the side are high right now, with Die Borussen enduring a league trophy drought since 2012. Over the last 25 years, there have been only three occasions when Dortmund started their season with four consecutive wins. Here's how it ended:
2001-02: Champions
The first time that Dortmund had a 100% win record after opening four Bundesliga games of the season, they went on to lift the trophy. It was their sixth top-flight crown (coming under manager Matthias Sammer) and the BVB secured it by the narrowest of margins, as Bayer Leverkusen finished just one point behind them (69) in second while Bayern Munich were just two off (68) in third.
Leverkusen were leading the race heading into the last few weeks as a historic treble beckoned, but back-to-back losses to Werder Bremen and Nurnberg on matchdays 32 and 33 allowed Dortmund to steal a march over them and clinch the Meisterschale on the final day. As for Die Werkself, they were later beaten in the DFB-Pokal final by Schalke and in the Champions League final by Real Madrid, suffering one of the cruelest anti-climaxes in recent history.
2013-14: Runners-up
It took a good 12 years before Dortmund posted wins in their first four top-flight matches of the season as the side laid down an early marker just months after ceding their Bundesliga title to arch-rivals Bayern, who also beat them in the Champions League final. In fact, Jurgen Klopp's swashbuckling team won five matches in a row to start with, and didn't lose a game until matchday eight.
Yet, it ended in a rather shocking fashion. Bayern not only retained their crown, but did so in quite some style by finishing with 90 points. Dortmund? They came in second with just 71, a massive 19 points adrift, as inconsistencies in defense ultimately cost them a heavy price.
2015-16: Runners-up
With Jurgen Klopp departing in the summer of 2015, Dortmund ushered in a new era under Thomas Tuchel and it began in the most resounding fashion as the side won their opening five games of the season once again. Dreams of Meisterschale had started to take shape in the Signal Iduna Park cauldron but the BVB were dealt a harsh reality soon after.
Two draws later, Bayern thumped them 5-1 to show they still the kings of Germany, and it was a defeat that BVB never recovered from, remaining in their shadows in second place where they would eventually finish once more. But this time, the gap was smaller, with only 10 points separating the Der Klassiker (88 and 78) rivals on the top of the table.
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