Borussia Dortmund played out a 1:1 draw against fierce rivals Schalke in a fascinating encounter. The Black and Yellows were dominant in the first half and deservedly found the go-ahead goal thanks to Aubameyang. However, Schalke replied strongly after conceding the goal, and eventually scored the equaliser through Thilo Kehrer.
It was the first Bundesliga goal for the young German fullback. Dortmund, on the other hand, will rue their lack of chance conversion as the main reason of being held by Schalke once again. Here are the best and the worst rated Dortmund players in the Derby.
Roman Burki(7/10): Could have done a lot better in keeping the shot out from Thilo Kehrer. Otherwise, Burki was fairly responsive between the sticks but failed to keep a clean sheet.
Lukasz Piszczek(7/10): Was slow in the build up play in the first half. Had very little to do going forward and as the second half progressed, he was rather outshined by the Schalke attackers.
Sokratis(9/10): Had an amazing game in the heart of the Dortmund defence. Sokratis was very imposing from the back and lead the young Dortmund side extremely well. He was accurate with his tackles and almost faultless in defence for BVB.
Marc Bartra(8/10): Also had a great game from the back. Especially in the first half, where he often went forward to help Dortmund in the build-up. Although he could have done a little better in the second half to keep out the likes of Burgstaller and co.
Julian Weigl(7.5/10): He was calm and composed in the first half. However, his performance started to fade away as Schalke came back strongly after Aubameyang’s goal. Struggled with the pressure of Bentaleb and Goretzka later on.
Felix Passlack(6.5/10): Didn’t have a great day on the right flank. Felix Passlack, who was making his first start for Dortmund since October, was mediocre going forward and his crosses didn’t seem to find their respective targets.
Shinji Kagawa(8.5/10): An amazing game for the Japanese International! Kagawa continues his impressive run. He was extremely accurate with his ball-playing capabilities and was also neat and clean in churning out spaces in the final third. Was very unselfish to square the ball to Aubameyang instead of finishing it off all by himself.
Ousmane Dembele(8.5/10): He was arguably Dortmund’s best player in the first half. Caused some real trouble for the Schalke defence with his exceptional individual qualities. However, as the game wore on, the Frenchman failed to keep his flow intact, as he was slow to react more than once in the latter stages of the game.
Gonzalo Castro(7/10): Didn’t have a great game, the former Leverkusen midfielder. Castro was not good enough to help Dortmund break the opposition lines. He instead played the role of a holding midfielder but struggled against the opposition midfielders in the second half.
Marcel Schmelzer(9/10): Had a really good game overall. The Dortmund captain was very quick with his link up play on the flanks and constantly kept Schalke under pressure going forward. Sustained an unfortunate niggle late on, as he had to come off.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang(8/10): Was almost non-existent in Dortmund’s offensive play, especially in the first half. However, he did make some dangerous runs in the second half and it was evident that the likes of Howedes and Nastasic were struggling with the pace of the Gabonese International.
