It was really a dramatic season in the Bundesliga, while new teams such as RB Leipzig have managed to challenge top dogs Bayern Munich for the title, while other giants such as Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke are kinda lost in transition, failing to live up to the expectation of the fans.
For Borussia Dortmund fans, it was really quite a season. A season which ranged from the horrific terror attacks on the team bus which nearly got former Barcelona defender, Marc Bartra killed, to winning the elusive DFB Cup right at the end and from scoring sixteen goals a month to managing ZERO wins in October. Even after all this, the drama remained, as Thomas Tuchel was sacked as the head coach due to internal problems with the board and the players.
Season Expectations
We all expected Die Schwarzgelben to at least finish in the direct qualifying spot for the Champions League, but the main expectation was to challenge Bayern for the title, despite three key players in the shape of Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan leaving in the summer for a combined fee of over €100m.
Although, they did spend about €110m in the summer transfer window, signing no less than eight new faces, among them were experienced Bundesliga players such as Mario Gotze, Andre Schurrle and Sebastian Rode. Other signings included youngster such as Ousmane Dembele, Raphael Guerreiro and Emre Mor, who were new to the Bundesliga but had shown a lot of promise for their respective teams.
Best Moments
When Pierre Emerick Aubameyang put the ball past Lukas Hradecky in the second half of the DFB Cup final against Eintracht Frankfurt, it meant BVB were about to end their five year title slump. That very moment proved to be the highest point of the season. Marco Reus won his first major title of his career while players like Aubameyang and Sokratis won their first title in Dortmund colors.
The Semi Final triumph over FC Bayern was also a major point of the season. Ousmane Dembele completely outclassed David Alaba with a feint and then put the ball past the Bayern goalkeeper to complete a sensational comeback, booking their ticket to Berlin for the final with Eintracht Frankfurt in the process.
Another emotional moment was when Marc Bartra made his comeback after the bus bombings which left the former Barcelona man injured for over a month. On the final day of the season, he was welcomed by 25,000 fans standing in the Sudtribune(The famous south terrace of Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, which is the largest standing terrace in the whole of Europe), who were chanting ‘Marc Bartra’ and signing “We will always stick together”.
Worst Moment
The attacks on the team bus was surely the darkest time not just for Borussia Dortmund but for football as well. Thankfully, no one really suffered any fatal injuries apart from Marc Bartra, who was unfortunately the only victim of the terror attacks in Dortmund.
The incident lowered the team morale, and Dortmund, consequently lost the all important home fixture against AS Monaco and were eventually knocked out of the Champions League by a 6-3 aggregate defeat over the newly crowned French Champions.
Best Players
Ousmane Dembele has been a beast for Dortmund this season. He managed to score ten goals and provide 21 assists despite playing his first season in Germany. The Frenchman proved why he’s regarded as one of the best talents in European football right now. In fact, his sensational performances have forced FC Barcelona to regain their interest over the 20 year old winger.
However, we expect the Frenchman to stay in Germany for now. Dembele is surely one of the best assets for the Bundesliga and perhaps the best young talent Dortmund have up their sleeves right now.
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang also been an important part of this Dortmund squad for years now. Had it not been for his 31 goals, Dortmund would have dawdling in the Europa League positions. Aubameyang’s goalscoring abilities has really caught the eye of top teams around the world, because, why not?
The Gabonese International has scored 120 goals in just 189 games for Borussia Dortmund since joining the club in 2013. He will no doubt be a subject of a lot of transfer interest over the upcoming summer window.
Roman Burki’s contribution cannot be undermined, as the Swiss goalkeeper has been really effective in his second season at the club. Burki has arguably been the top three goalkeeper of the Bundesliga. Squawka football rates him as the third best keeper in the league, having conceded just 18 goals from open play this season. He has made 59 saves with 2.18 saves per 90 mins ratio, a figure which easily exceeds the tally of Manuel Neuer.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Marco Reus are the honourable mentions here. Sokratis has been an important part of the Dortmund defence ever since the departure of Mats Hummels while Marco Reus was perhaps the best Dortmund player in the second half of the season.
Flop of the season
It has to be Matthias Ginter. After impressing as a right back under Thomas Tuchel’s first season at the club(even though it only lasted for a few games only), everyone had high expectation of him and that he can perhaps replace the hole left by departing captain Mats Hummels.
However, it was never to be, as the 23 year old has completely flopped this season. Playing as a center back for most period of the season, Ginter has been consistently awful with his positioning and marking, while his poor touches gifted the ball away more than once. He was extremely slow to react under the quick offensive pressure of teams such as RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverusen or SC Freiburg.
Dortmund fans would only hope that the former Freiburg defender leaves the club in the summer transfer window with both Tottenham Hotspur and TSG Hoffenheim interested. In fact, here is out piece on why the Spurs should also avoid Ginter this summer.
Grade
It’s time to grade the season!
Considering the problems Dortmund faced this season, with the departures of key players, the inner probelms within the camp along with the terrifying attacks on the team bus, it’s fair to say that Dortmund has been pretty good this season finishing third behind Leipzig and Bayern. Also not to forget that the Black and Yellow have also managed a trophy at the end, by beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1. Surely, it can be marked as a successful one for the German giants.
