Once, and not so long ago, these teams were considered serious rivals. Bayern were always the favorites, but Dortmund have always been close behind, occasionally even jumping in front.
It is not so at the moment. Things are very different these days. The teams entered their clash with Bayern Munich leading the Bundesliga 18 points ahead of the third-place Borussia Dortmund, and Schalke 04 in between. There could have hardly been a better way to feel that difference than seeing this game.
The First Half: One team on the pitch
Right from the start, the players in red shirts stormed and swamped those in yellow, taking the game by the scruff of the neck and playing like a group of in-form top players (which they certainly are) on a training pitch (which they certainly weren’t).
To put it simply, they were too much for this poorly organized Dortmund team riddled with appalling performances in defence and midfield. The attackers could hardly be blamed for anything, especially Götze in the No.10 role and Pulisic on the right wing – they were the only two occasionally bright pieces of the puzzle in Peter Stöger’s team.
Bayern were arranged in an extremely attacking version of 4-3-3, with Javi Martinez sitting ahead of the centre-back duo of Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng. The fullbacks, Rafinha and David Alaba, were flying high up the pitch throughout the game. Thomas Müller and James Rodriguez provided loads of spark and creativity ahead of Martinez, while striker Robert Lewandowski was flanked by Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery. Sven Ülreich, who has performed admirably this season in the absence of Manuel Neuer, was in goal once more.
Stöger on the other hand sent his men out in a these days traditional 4-2-3-1 formation. Roman Bürki was between the sticks, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Manuel Akanji were fllanked by Marcel Schmelzer on the left and Lukasz Pizczek on the right. Gonzalo Castro and Mahmoud Dahoud were in front of the back four, while Andre Schürrle (left), Mario Götze (middle) and Christian Pulisic (right) played behind Michy Batshuayi as the lone striker.
It took Bayern only five minutes to take the lead, after Müller put Lewandowski through and the Polish striker scored, althogh with a hint of an offside position. Müller was again at heart of attack in the 9th minute when he broke down the right and squared across the six-yard box. James couldn’t catch it properly, but he did touch it before it fell for an easy tap-in for Ribery. But that touch meant the French winger was actually offside, and after consulting the VAR, referee Bastian Dankert disallowed it.
But just four minutes later it was two. James was running at Castro and involved Alaba who had made his run down the left. Alaba returned it sharply into the box, Castro failed to track James’ run and the Colombian smacked it home without difficulties.
Ten minutes later, the two players were involved again as Castro lost the ball to James and Lewandowski burst into a counterattack. James made a run to the left and the former Dortmund striker sent the ball back to him. James’ perfectly weighed cross found Müller on the far post and it was 3-0.
Everything was going all too easy for Bayern and the game was pretty much decided at that point – only 23 minutes from the start.
Castro was replaced by Julian Weigl right before the half-hour mark, and that move by Stöger speaks volumes about his performance. The team immediately gained a bit more balance and solidity, but there was no stopping Bayern anymore.
They dominated every aspect of the game throughout its course. Two minutes before the break, the 35-year-old Ribery made Pizczek look like an amateur the way he got around him. Then he broke into the six-yard box, and with a lucky rebound off the goalkeeper the ball fell for Lewandowski to poke home.
But the half wasn’t over just yet. There was just enough time for Ribery to nick one himself after a good pass from James put him through.
Halftime score: 5-0.
The Second Half: Turning the volume down
The second half was all about the home team keeping things under control. If they resembled a pack of hungry sharks before, after the break they were more like lions resting with the remains of their prey sprawled on the ground.
They still dominated possession, the game was still going the way they commanded it to go, and there was nothing Dortmund players could have done about it. Götze had a shot from around 20 yards hit the post in the 67th minute, and substitute Max Phillip failed to capitalize on a good pass from Dahoud that had put him through nine minutes from time, but that was all they were able to do in the entire game.
With three minutes remaining Joshua Kimmich, who had come on for Alaba at halftime, played a brilliant one-two with Müller and broke through down the right side. His low ball across the six yards found Lewandowski unmarked a yard or two from the goal line: 6-0.
In the end, the players of Borussia Dortmund were probably thankful that the referee decided not to allow any injury time, but to blow the whistle as soon as the 90 minutes were up.
Bayern keep strolling towards the sixth consecutive league title with sure steps, while Dortmund are still in position to command their own fate regarding Champions League qualification. But they will need to change a lot of things – to make a smart managerial signing and completely rebuild the team – if they have any ambitions of challenging for the title again.
BAYERN MUNICH: Ülreich – 7; Rafinha – 7; Alaba – 6.5 (Kimmich 46’ – 8); Hummels – 9; Boateng – 8; Martinez – 8; Müller – 9; James – 8.5 (Thiago Alcantara 65’ – 8); Robben – 7.5; Ribery – 9 (Rudy 69’ – N/A) ; Lewandowski – 9.
BORUSSIA DORTMUND: Bürki – 7; Pizczek – 6.5; Schmelzer – 6; Akanji – 5; Sokratis – 5.5; Castro – 2 (Weigl 29’ – 6.5); Dahoud – 6; Götze – 7.5 (Sahin 78’ – N/A); Schürrle – 6; Pulisic – 7 (Philipp 74’ – 5.5); Batshuayi – 5.5.
GOALS:
Lewandowski – 5’, 44’, 87;
James Rodriguez – 14;
Thomas Müller – 23’;
Franck Ribery – 45’.
YELLOW CARDS:
Franck Ribery 65’; Julian Weigl 65’.
RED CARDS:
None.
REFEREE: Bastian Dankert.
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