All Or Nothing: A Season In The Life Of The Champions League.
In the bowels of the Emirates Stadium, after Borussia Dortmund’s defeat to Arsenal, the cameraman for the German club’s in-house TV channel is cheerfully taking stock. “I’ve been with them for 12 years,” he reflects. “So I’ve seen some very, very bad moments too.”
Losing a group match to one of the Premier League’s leading lightsis, it’s fair to say, not one of them. Since the last time Dortmund was in this corner of north London for Champions League business, over nine years ago, the club has been to proverbial soccer hell and back again.
Borussia Dortmund spent the better part of the last decade recovering from big spending that helped the club to it's third Bundesliga title in 2002.
1st UEFA Cup: Runners-up 2002-03 3rd Champions League: 2nd round 6th UEFA Cup: 2nd round 7th Did not qualify 7th Did not qualify 9th Did not qualify 13th Did not qualify 6th UEFA Cup: 1st round 5th Did not qualify 1st Europa League: Group stage More: Europe|Germany
When the Westphalia side arrived for that match in September 2002 – the last time it was part of a Champions League group stage – it was as Bundesliga champion, though that's the only similarity between now and then. A youthful Tomas Rosicky was the cornerstone of the Dortmund midfield and went on to score twice against his future employer in the return leg at the Westfalenstadion.
The most jarring contrast between the Dortmund of today and that of the dawn of the century is on the financial level. The club was a big spender in the late ‘90s and carried on being so into the next decade, having put itself onto the stock market in October 2000 to generate more funds. As German soccer guru - and Dortmund fan – Uli Hesse told this column a while back, the club became “megalomaniac. They spent…a huge amount for a German club.”
Signings included the Brazilian Marcio Amoroso, who arrived from Parma for a staggering €22m (US$29.35m) in 2001, and Rosicky - bought for €15m (US$20m) and sold onto Arsenal five years later for approximately half of that figure. Lumbered with huge debt, the club nearly went out of business twice, and was saved by the return of president Reinhard Rauball.
Lessons have since been learned. While the Westfalen still packs in 80,000 on alternate Saturdays (it is less for Champions League games, when competition rules govern that seats must be provided in the 25,000-capacity, normally standing-only Südtribüne), Dortmund are today a club of modest means. The likes of Lucas Barrios, Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gündogan, all signed for fees in the region of €4m (US$5.35m) now pass for big purchases.
Check out all the imagesfrom the fifth matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage.
Head coach Jürgen Klopp’s beguiling blend of bargains and youthful zest, molded in his own image, conquered hearts across the continent in last year’s championship-winning season, but there is nothing quite like a maiden Champions League season to turn a title defense into a wade through treacle. The early signs were that Dortmund had stumbled into every clichéd trap in the book, losing two and drawing one in the first trio of Champions League fixtures, having lost three of its first six in the Bundesliga.
Sothe weekend win at Bayern Munichhad not only capped a recent revival but suggested real progress in terms of temperament. A February win in the same fixture (all but clinching last season’s title) demanded your attention for its sheer élan, but putting one over a significantly-improved Bayern underlined that Klopp’s men now temper their flair with calm, circumspection and authority. By the end of the match, Dortmund had conceded just 9 in 13 Bundesliga games this season to date.
Not that Klopp has lost his daring streak. Bringing on 18-year-old Moritz Leitner for captain Sebastian Kehl in the last quarter-of-an-hour of the match at the Allianz (as Dortmund attempted to close out a lead) showed exactly from where his team gets its fearless gait.
Klopp's side is clearly a quick learner. The maturity displayed at Bayern contrasted markedly with the crash-and-burn in the first Champions League away game at Marseille. It says something for this lauded side’s lack of know-how that itmanaged to lose 3-0 in southern Francedespite the French side’s goalkeeper Steve Mandanda being man-of-the-match.
Andy Brassell, author ofAll Or Nothing: A Season In The Life Of The Champions League, will be spending this Champions League season with FOX Soccer:
November 24, 2011 -Past failure helps Dortmund meet struggles in stride October 20, 2011 -Porto forced back to drawing board September 29, 2011 -Arsenal turns to new reference point, Arteta September 9, 2011 -Chelsea closes ranks around Torres August 25, 2011 -Faith in values keeps Villarreal afloat August 18, 2011 -Lyon, Garde ready to make them dream August 5, 2011 -Dynamo legend Semin faces seminal season
The Marseille loss represented Dortmund’s heaviest loss in the reconstituted competition and highlighted that even the most advanced of the excellent young players at Klopp’s disposal have plenty to learn. Highly-rated defender Mats Hummels is presumed to be a key part of the Germany national team’s spine for the next decade, but he endured a torrid old evening at center-back and was highly culpable for Loïc Rémy’s pivotal second goal.
Hummels’ immaculate display at the Allianz suggested there was no lasting trauma from this experience. In fact, Dortmund arrived back at Arsenal buoyed by a pleasant habit of turning handicaps into positives. Some feared the effects ofNuri Sahin’s exit (to Real Madrid last summer), and that top scorerLucas Barrios arrived back from the Copa America injurywas another big blow. Yet Kehl – the sole survivor at Dortmund from 2002 – has slipped back into midfield to add some power after being largely peripheral last season, and Lewandowski has stepped up to block a now-fit Barrios from returning to the XI.
The main change post-Sahin has been that of a creative vacuum opening up in the center of the team, and 19-year-old Mario Götze has made filled it amply. The scorer of the winner in Bavaria at the weekend, Götze is now perhaps the side’s pivotal figure (and one of Europe’s hottest properties). He didn’t escape international criticism after the Marseille defeat, but has bounced back, like the rest of his teammates.
On Wednesday, Arsenal proved a bridge too far for Dortmund, the side’s rhythm and energy disrupted by the forced substitution of Sven Bender and Götze within a few calamitous first-half minutes as well as the superior pedigree of a side sealing a 12th successive progression to the Champions League knockout stage.
Still, Götze’s status as this season’s must-have was highlighted by the reaction to his exit here at the Emirates, with Arsenal’s fans politely applauding a star they hope will slot into their own constellation in the future,however unlikely that may be.
Though Dortmund can still qualify if it beats Marseille 4-0 at the Westfalen while already-qualified Arsenal does it a favor (“I’ll be telling [former Dormund, now Arsenal defender] Per (Mertesacker) I’ll kick his a-- if they don’t win,” laughed Hummels after the game), it is hardly a probability. “Life goes on,” the Brazilian central defender Felipe Santana told this column after the match. It certainly does, and Dortmund’s joie de vivre promises to make it a more and more integral part of the Champions League furniture in years to come.
Andy Brassell is the European correspondent for BBC 5Live's World Football Phone-In and a contributor to FOXSoccer.com. His work appears in titles including The Independent. Andy is also the author of 'All Or Nothing: A Season In The Life Of The Champions League' and can be found on Twitter at@andybrassell.
Sign up for Fox Soccer Fantasy. Play with the World's Best!
Trecker, CL review: Mancs must wait to learn fates
Trecker: England's favorites losing ground to Europe's best
Please note by clicking on "add a comment" you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Use and the comment you are posting is in compliance with such terms. Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed by the moderator.
No comments yet.
Paper Chase: Chelsea told to cough up for Cahill, Tevez move Bolton boss Owen Coyle has told Chelsea to make an early bid for Gary Cahill in Janua...
Trecker: England's favorites losing ground to Europe's best England best can't keep up in Europe
United's Anderson out until February, Ferguson won't buy Manchester United midfielder Anderson has been ruled out until February with a knee i...
Galarcep, MLS draft review: Anger over Ching pick misplaced Houston tried to game the draft and lost their captain.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment