The sad, soon-to-be, demise of Borussia Dortmund

The Borussia Dortmund squad that played against Real Madrid. Is this the last we see of this promising bunch playing together?

Borussia Dortmund‘s demolition of Real Madrid was extraordinary. It wasn’t just the scoreline, 4-1, that beggared belief, but the manner in which Dortmund completely and utterly outplayed and outclassed the Spanish heavyweights.

Real Madrid, with Mourinho at the helm, are not an easy team to beat. They might not be the most exhilarating side in the world, but they aren’t easy to break down. That is, until Dortmund blew that theory out of the water.

I cannot convey in words how much I loved that performance. The manner in which Dortmund went about winning the ball back was brilliant, sprinting to close the ball down as soon as it entered an area remotely threatening. When, inevitably, they did win the ball back, they broke with pace, power and precision – the most deadly of triumvirates.

At the heart of this were Dortmund’s young brigade – Ilkay Gundogan, Mario Gotze, Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski. And therein lies the problem for Dortmund, and for any football fan wishing to see more displays of that ilk.

Gotze’s departure to Bayern has already been confirmed. That, in itself, is a bitter blow to a side hoping to supersede Bayern as Germany’s premier club. That Gotze has been at the club since he was eight will hurt them even more. If they can’t stop a homegrown kid who has been embedded in the club for a decade from joining their arch rivals, what hope have they with others?

Lewandowski’s contract expires next year, and it is widely expected that he will move to either Bayern (yes, them again) or Manchester United this summer. After the Pole’s breathtaking four-goal display, he will not be short of suitors. Indeed, the man most ecstatic after the match will most likely have been his agent.

So, with Gotze and probably Lewandowski gone by the start of next season, where does that leave Dortmund? Both Reus and Gundogan will be attracting plenty of interest from across Europe and the allure of a big money move may prove difficult to resist, especially after witnessing the sales of possibly their two most influential players.

Robert Lewandowski could be on his way out at the end of the season

There is a very real possibility that three of those four will be gone by next August. That is, assuming the board would not allow, under any circumstances, the departure of all four.

It must be remembered that Dortmund have absorbed big losses before. They lost Shinji Kagawa to Manchester United this year, and have still maintained excellence. They lost the highly influential Nuri Sahin the year before and proceeded to win the German league and cup double.

They are masters at picking out a deal for young, promising players. They signed Lewandowski for just £4m. But they will be hard pressed to sustain departures of this nature and remain as effective as they are right now. Especially since their German rivals Bayern appear to be strengthening to such an extent that many observers have declared Barcelona‘s era of European dominance as over, and Bayern’s to have begun.

Sadly, the prominence of German football in European competition over the coming years is likely to be restricted solely to Bayern Munich. Much like the Ajax side of the mid-90s, this young, vibrant team will be broken apart and sold to various European superpowers, and we will never find out just how good they could have been if they could have stayed together.

And that’s the thing I don’t get. During Dortmund’s celebrations at the end of the game, the fanatical support of ‘The Yellow Wall’ was in full force. Ten minutes after the match had finished, not a single person had left their seats and were still vociferously applauding their heroes. The atmosphere, even watching on TV, was incredible.

So, my question is, why would anybody want to leave that? Dortmund are all but in the Champions League final, and they could soon be European Champions. They have a young, talented side that has the potential to get even better and a manager in Jurgen Klopp who is displaying all the traits of a great in the making. On top of that, they possess a brand of football that is, in my humble opinion, even more exciting than that of Barca and Bayern. And yet, there is seemingly a queue to get out of the door.

I don’t quite understand it. It can’t be about an inability to win trophies, it can’t be about a lack of enjoyment and it certainly cannot be about the club’s level of support. So, I find myself coming to the rather sad conclusion that it has to be all about the money, an extra few thousand in the pocket. What a horribly depressing conclusion to come to. Oh, how I would love to be proved wrong.