A cup triumph with consequences ?: A dangerously beautiful evening for BVB

Friday May 14th 2021

A cup triumph with consequences?
A dangerously nice evening for BVB

By Tobias Nordmann

Is Marco Reus still the right captain for BVB? This question was discussed publicly months ago. Past. Because Reus is in excellent shape again. Just like the offensive super talents around him. This is not just good news.

Where to start And where do you stop? Perhaps a chronological entry into the DFB Cup final makes the most sense. Because after just five minutes the big story of the evening was told on Thursday. After five minutes, Dortmund’s Marco Reus stole the ball against Kevin Kampl in midfield after a very clever duel. After a quick and splendid passing game over Erling Haaland and Mo Dahoud, Jadon Sancho was suddenly free.

Also because his opponent Amadou Haidara was not particularly interested in the physical duel, the 21-year-old slid the ball from the edge of the box into RB Leipzig’s goal. It was the furious start to Dortmund’s 4-1 (3-0) success in Berlin. He was played out furiously and mercilessly efficiently, especially in the first half – and defended passionately against strong Saxons with a little luck and a good goalkeeper Roman Bürki in half time.

Why was this story so big? Well, she tells the story of the four offensive protagonists from Dortmund, who led their team to the fifth cup triumph in the club’s history with merciless effectiveness. And she tells four individual stories with such different grades. The stories of Reus and Dahoud are comparable. Both have been playing in excellent form for weeks. Reus once again. Dahoud, on the other hand, is better and more consistent than ever during his four-year stint at Borussia. The form high comes in time for the dramatic showdown for the Champions League. In time, too, to give national coach Joachim Löw the signal: Boss, I could definitely help at the European Championships in a few weeks.

And yes, the boss had looked very carefully in the Olympic Stadium, which was empty for the second time (during the final). And then he was asked about Reus. He was not only involved in the first three goals, but led his team like a captain has to lead a team. The body language: great. The mentality: great. The ball wins: strong. The introductory passes to the first three goals: outstanding. The debate as to whether he is the right man with the bandage on his arm: moderated in the last instance and sovereign. And if Thorgan Hazard had been just one My faster on the ball in the middle of the second half, Reus would have been allowed to adorn himself with another template – well, it doesn’t matter. Already last weekend, in the league duel against RB (3: 2), Reus was very noticeable. Conspicuous enough for a European Championship starting place?

Reus is on Löw’s EM slip

“Marco has found his rhythm again,” said Löw, praising his unlucky footballer on ARD. The 31-year-old had already been seriously injured twice shortly before major tournaments and was then not available to the national coach. When asked whether he has the captain of BVB on his list, Löw said: “Yes, he’s already on it. We also have an expanded squad. Now we’ve discussed a few names again.” Whether Dahoud is one of them? Loew said nothing about it. Well, he wasn’t asked about it either. One thing is clear: Dahoud plays in the central midfield in the positions where the personal luxury of the national coach is greatest (the intimidating keywords are: Kroos, Gündogan, Goretzka and Kimmich). But it is also clear: How the 25-year-old is driving Borussia’s game not only on this evening together with the dynamic and wild Jude Bellingham is a great thing.

One of the people who benefits particularly from this is Sancho. Its season was like that of Reus until the start of the second half of the season (Reus came on a high-speed course a little later) rather mediocre. Maybe it was even bad. But since the team successfully adapted the football of coach Edin Terzic, the Englishman is again what he actually is: a spectacular talent that fascinates Europe’s great powers. That he did a pretty absurd final sloppiness against Leipzig, well, he’s still young … and after all angry himself too. “If I look back on this game at some point, I’ll be disappointed that I didn’t score three goals. Next time I’ll do that.”

Someone who would not have been so sloppy – instead of pushing the ball into the free goal, Sancho had decided in at least slightly arrogant manner to dup the Leipzig with a delayed conclusion – is Haaland. He rolled over the field and opponents as if he hadn’t been injured for several days. As if his mission hadn’t turned out to be a tremendous match. Until he was substituted in the 90th minute, the Norway beat every gram of energy out of himself, which is discharged again and again in the mega sprints from penalty area to penalty area.

Physical madness. Never and never to stop. With the 2-0 also not from Dayot Upamecano. The man who left Leipzig with coach Julian Nagelsmann for Bayern, simply bounced off the physical force of his opponent in the penalty area. And the Frenchman is hardly inferior in his bulky character. Haaland conjured the ball into the goal in a fluid movement of technique and speed. That he shot himself shortly before the end, at 4: 1, well, it has to be. And looked very entertaining too.

Haaland and Sancho, that’s huge. Of course they know that in Dortmund. And they enjoy every evening they still have with their two super talents. Both are heavily courted. And with every impressive performance, the interested parties get more (although the circle is rather finite in view of the required transfer fee of 100 million euros and more), the love more flaming, the transfer situation for BVB more dangerous. How long these two will play together in black and yellow, open.

Dortmund’s best argument for at least one more season would be: qualification for the Champions League. This looks good again at the moment, but it is far from being fixed. But as the big story continues this Thursday evening, Tony Britten’s legendary anthem becomes so much more likely. You don’t want to imagine any other scenario in Dortmund. Also because of Haaland and Sancho.