Are Borussia Dortmund dead and buried after 5-0 loss to Bayern Munich?
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It was all going so well for Borussia Dortmund this season. The yellow and black were winning games in style behind the wing wizardry of Jadon Sancho and the creativity of captain Marco Reus.
Manager Lucien Favre’s return to the Bundesliga had brought with it tactics that saw the team swashbuckle over, around and through opponents.
To top things off, Bayern Munich were having an off season after the arrival of coach Niko Kovac. Yes, it was all going Borussia Dortmund’s way.
Then the wheels came off. Three successive draws in February saw the vibrant life in the side waver. A 1-1 draw away to Eintracht Frankfurt began the downfall as Reus suffered another injury.
But perhaps the biggest moment in Borussia Dortmund’s season occurred one week later when Hoffenheim came back from three goals down to score a trio of goals in the final 15 minutes to claim a draw.
It was result that felt more like a loss and crush confidence. A draw to relegation side Nurnberg followed.
At the same time, Bayern Munich were on an epic charge. In their last 16 games, Bayern Munich have been nearly unplayable, posting a 14 wins, one draw, one loss record.
Borussia Dortmund’s title hopes may have been buried in Munich a week ago. Favre’s team went into the fixture confident of a victory having defeated Wolfsburg 2-0 in the build-up.
Yet, Borussia Dortmund were not ready for what occurred at the Allianz Arena. Bayern Munich steamrolled their title rivals with a 5-0 win. The fixture was over at halftime as Bayern had already put four goals past Roman Burki.
If there was one positive Borussia Dortmund could find, it was they didn’t lose 6-0 like they had one year earlier in Munich.
Borussia Dortmund’s attack, which has tallied 66 goals this Bundesliga season, managed just one shot on target against Bayern.
It doesn’t take much to find a reason Borussia Dortmund were unable to mount an offence. Striker Paco Alcacer missed the fixture through injury.
The oft-injured striker has tallied 16 goals but has missed key games through knocks. He was absent from Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League first leg 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur along with Reus.
In fact, Borussia Dortmund’s defeat in the Champions League greatly mirrored their loss to Bayern Munich. They showed promise early, but ultimately, mistakes were made that led to goals. Moreover, star players such as Reus and Sancho did not step up on the big stage.
For as good as Borussia Dortmund have been, they are now looking like flat-track bullies. They went 15-matches unbeaten to start the season.
Since tasting defeat for the first time against Fortuna Dusseldorf in December, Borussia Dortmund have dropped points in five of 12 matches. Two of which were losses by a combined 7-1 score.
Bayern Munich are in-form and it will take another major slip-up, like they had against Bayer Leverkusen in early February, for the title not to return to the Allianz Arena.
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