Match Focus: Old Favourites Still Key for Bayern and Dortmund

That Borussia Dortmund came up short at the Allianz Arena in Der Klassiker against Bayern Munich was not the biggest surprise of the weekend. It was still to come late on Sunday, when Vladimir Darida’s penalty winner for Freiburg at Köln sealed a first win of the season for Christian Streich’s side – lifting them above Dortmund, with Die Schwarzgelben dropping into the bottom two, a place above ailing Werder Bremen. 

The sheer shock of looking at the table and seeing Dortmund down there could make Saturday’s result into something it’s not. It was a disappointment for Dortmund, but not a disaster. Perhaps in weeks to come, Jürgen Klopp and company will be able to look back on this as a turning point, as the moment when Dortmund recovered a bit of domestic authority. 

That was certainly the case in the first half when the visitors defended doggedly – with plenty of help from an inspired Roman Weidenfeller in goal – and broke with panache. Dortmund’s struggles against inferior opposition in recent weeks appear intrinsically linked with their being uncomfortable in making the play. They have the second highest proportion of possession in this Bundesliga season (56.6%, behind only Bayern’s 70.1%), but at the Allianz they were more effective with just 35% of the ball.

One of the riddles of Dortmund’s arduous campaign has been the difference between domestic and continental form, with Klopp’s men looking far more like themselves in the Champions League. They have won three out of three – and with considerable ease – against Arsenal, Anderlecht and Galatasaray, while 22 clubs in the competition have had a greater share of possession than Dortmund’s 48.2%.

At Bayern, the celebrated summer forward signings Adrian Ramos and Ciro Immobile were left on the bench, with a fluid and speedy final third of the team favoured by Klopp. Propelled by Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s speed, they were a regular threat, even with Bayern controlling the majority of the play.

Mkhitaryan produced a greater number of dribbles (4) than anyone else on the pitch, and those were crucial in authoring quick transitions of play. Aubameyang, stretching play out wide, delivered 2 key passes and an assist as well as having 3 of his team’s 4 shots on target. 36% of Dortmund’s attacks came on the right, from where the Gabonese forward created Marco Reus’ opener, with another 36% from the central areas patrolled by Shinji Kagawa (3 key passes) and, more sporadically Mkhitaryan.

If Dortmund relied on old favourites, then so too did the hosts. Medhi Benatia and Xabi Alonso have clearly added another dimension to Pep Guardiola’s team and both performed well, but they were not crucial figures in Bayern’s victory. Dortmund’s pressing clearly had its effects. Alonso’s 95 touches represented, remarkably, the first time that he has had less than 100 in a Bundesliga match that has started since his debut against Schalke in September. Instead, Bayern had to be patient, starting further back with Jerome Boateng enjoying the most touches in the team (116).

Further forward, the duo of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry – or ‘Robbery’, as they were dubbed by the German tabloids way back when – made an emphatic statement of their continued importance to Guardiola. Robben could easily have decided the game on his own in the first period (much as he did in the recent Champions League fixture at Roma), coming off second best in an enthralling duel with Weidenfeller and the Dortmund defence in general. Over the course of the match as a whole, Robben landed 5 of his 7 shots on target, more than the entire visiting team put together. Given his afternoon of frustration to that point, he did well to keep his head to score the winner from the penalty spot. His all-round contribution was excellent, supplying 4 key passes and 3 dribbles too.

Yet there was still the sense that it was his wing twin Ribéry, still feeling his way back from injury, that really turned the game. The Frenchman managed 2 dribbles during his 21-minute cameo, but one was at the genesis of the Bayern equaliser, with fellow substitute Neven Subotic’s attempted interception of Ribéry’s run inadvertently teeing up Robert Lewandowski. The one foul suffered by Ribéry – Subotic was again involved as he pulled the Bayern man down – led to the penalty for Robben’s winner, of course. His directness was clearly aptly timed against a Dortmund side that had given so much, physically and mentally, to that point.

Lewandowski, ultimately more decisive than his fellow ex-Dortmund forward Mario Götze, had needed a change in the ranks of his former teammates to really make his presence felt. His second half could have easily begun with a far more rapid equaliser, had it not been for another excellent Weidenfeller stop. The introduction of Subotic for the injured Mats Hummels at the break made a considerable difference, with the Serbian struggling to get to the game’s tempo. Hummels had largely extinguished the physical side of Lewandowski’s threat in the first period, winning 4 aerial duels, more than anyone else in the first 45.  

Subotic now faces the task of picking up his form without the partnership of his teammate Hummels, who will be out injured for three weeks with a foot problem. It is the latest in a catalogue of injuries that Klopp has had to deal with in the past year, and it again denies him the chance to reunite a pairing on which so many of his successes at the Signal Iduna Park have been built.

Guardiola has a less stressful quandary – when to fully reintegrate Ribéry into the starting line-up. The Spaniard may also look back on this game as a watershed. Not only has his French star received a major confidence boost, but also Bayern have finally felt true adrenaline. The hard-fought nature of this win, one feels, will stand them in good stead for challenges to come. 

Put simply, the title race between the two may be over for this season, with 17 points already separating them after just 10 matches – but Bayern and Dortmund still need each other in order to summon their best. This compelling encounter, removed from current context, was further evidence of that.

Do you think Dortmund can recover from their current slump? Let us know in the comments below