The age of vincibility: Fight for supremacy in Europe: Part 2- Borussia Dortmund

The RedBrothersUnited collective presents a look at the possible contenders for the fight for supremacy in Europe. This is the second article of the series tracing a look back at the stunning performances and amazing passion for the game shown by Jurgen Klopp men.

Football has never been short of underdog’s stories, yet this one unlike others is a fairy tale journey without a happy ending. From a team battling to stay in Bundesliga, fighting relegation five years ago to last year contesting in Champion’s League final against their local rivals Bayern Munich in a first ever all German final at the new Wembley stadium.

Disaster Averted ‘07

In the 2006-07 season, BVB faced unanticipated relegation worries but somehow managed to scarce off the situation at hand with them finishing 9^th in the table by the end of the same season. The next season didn’t prove any fruitful too. With their worst finish in almost two decades, they were placed 13^th in the Bundesliga table.

Things were soon to change. Manager Thomas Doll resigned and was immediately replaced by Jürgen Klopp.

Manager

Jürgen Klopp, a striker turned defender turned manager was now in the midst of all. The moment Klopp stepped in to Dortmund, his plans were in motion.

The oldest central defensive partnership, Worns & Kovac, was in a matter of days changed to youngest central defensive partnership, Subotic & Hummels, and soon going to be popular in Europe too in time to come. The likes of Łukasz Piszczek, İlkay Gündoğan, Mario Gotze, Sven Bender were all right away given chances to play at the highest possible level at such a young age.

In his first season in charge, Klopp managed to bring in stability and in the process winning DFB-Supercup, defeating then Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich. After two mediocre seasons, everything was all in place for the yellow blacks to compete in the race for Bundesliga title for real.

Winning Bundesliga and adding to it the cup double the season next was the perfect result for this ever growing club and its charismatic new manager. These results are a clear indication that Klopp is an ideal fit for Dortmund.

Style of Play and Formation

The Prussians play with a 4-2-3-1 formation with its numerous modifications. The two Centre pivots at the backs along with two full backs who are offensively even better than defending. The midfield consists of a defensive mid, a holding mid and two wide wingers with a central playmaker which makes the play for the lone Centre forward up front.

Klopp introduced to the world a new style of playing which is since its introduction imitated by many. Gegenpressing. His ideals has been credited and applauded by almost everyone round the globe. Gegenpressing simply means playing at full pace for complete 90 minutes and pressing for the ball, defensively and offensively, every second of the game.

Another important aspect of BVB’s gameplay is Verticality. The superiority in numbers of vertical passes than horizontal ones in their game is not hidden to any. This all mixed with frequent attack-defense transitions, direct playing approach and high cross passes all make them attractive to watch.

New Additions

The successful acquirement of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this summer is in every which way a befitting attempt to fill in the empty shoes left within the club.

With Earlier losses of Nuri Sahin and Shinji Kagawa, best players for  Dortmund awarded in consecutive years,they faced another setback when Gotze ecided to part ways.The central playmaker  accounted for as much as 30 goals out of their 90 scored last season in all competitions before switching on to  arch-rivals Bayern Munich .Later it was revealed  top scorer Robert Lewandowski has handed over a transfer request , it was nothing short of a living nightmare for Dortmund. The former has however completed his move across the Bundesliga while the latter is as of yet playing for Dortmund, for now.

The two summer signings have been a good involvement to the team since their arrival to the club. Aubameyang Bundesliga debut in which he scored a hat-trick and a record club signing of Mkhitaryan is the next step forward for them towards European glory.

Key Player

In the start of 2013, speculations started linking Lewandoski to a number of big clubs including Manchester united and City among noteworthy. But it was Bayern Munich who emerged out on top. With Lewandoski refusing to sign a contract extension, it was confirmed that he will leave the club in the summer of 2013.

However Dortmund persuaded to keep him till the end of 13/14 season when and where his contract will be expired for good and Bayern will then acquire his services on a free transfer. It is the biggest gamble that Dortmund has ever undertaken to make sure of their route to European glory is complete, to make that final step which was missing from the last time.

The young polish Centre forward is one of the most known talked about talents in Europe and his performances are a definition of the same. He is seen by many as the complete player who not only scores critical goals but also helps his teammates defensively. His pace, poaching capability and holding of the ball ability in tightest of places are among many qualities to be seen.

New Emergences

Marco Reus is without any doubt a player of many attributes. He has all the natural elements one needs to be a world class winger and can also play as a lone No.9 too, if and when his team needs him to. He is on his path to be the next big thing in the footballing world and might achieve that status in years to come.

Being a Dortmund youth product, it was not a complete surprise to see him not only adapt to but thrive in Klopp’s style of play. His partnership with Gotze accomplished wonders for the team and now that his better half has left, he is left alone. But still, the 24 year old German still has a lot in his bag to offer.However, Mkhitaryan emergence in the yellow outfit will give a huge boost to Dortmund’s plan and in partnering Reus to form a formidable partnership.

Conclusion

A brilliant set of players together with a manager of genius characters. Borussia Dortmund is unlike any other present or playing in Europe. Their style of play is still anew to watch and has been said to have a few loopholes defensively but agreeably very appealing to the eye.

Having said that, games are won or lost with goals scored and conceded and not with the way you score them or concede them. Last season’s end was not in any which way fitting for the class of football they played, but sometimes stories are written without a happy ending.

But this story is far from its end. It is a new start for a club seeking to reclaim its long lost supremacy and in the own words of their manager, ‘’we want to write stories for future’’.Great players, Great manager,Outstanding style of play.With absence of luck all this while,it is the right moment when fortune starts favoring the brave.

RedBrothersUnited are Anand Sindhu, Pawan Sharma and Akshay Agarwal.