Borussia Dortmund: A look at their five star start to 2013/14 season

Dortmund’s players celebrate with Dortmund’s Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan (C) who socred the 1-2 goal during the German first division Bundesliga football match Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund in Frankfurt

Borussia Dortmund ended up losing everything to Bayern Munich last season. They also lost star player Mario Gotze to the European champions.

However, they have made an excellent start this season, winning all the four matches they have played in the Bundesliga, and also beat bitter rivals Bayern in the DFL Supercup. They have made a few quality additions during the summer transfer window and might well be contenders for the Bundesliga this season, despite the fact that Bayern will not be pushovers.

Transfers:

Dortmund lost one of their biggest stars in Mario Gotze to Bayern Munich. The young attacking midfielder, along with Reus, was one of Dortmund’s most exciting players and his transfer sent shockwaves across the world of football. Bayern confirmed the transfer well before the end of the season.

They lost no other major players but that wasn’t the end of the summer clear-out. Felipe Santana was sold to rivals Schalke 04 while veteran right-back Patrick Owomoyela was released at the end of the season.

Youngsters Julian Koch and Daniel Ginczek were sold to Mainz and Nuremberg respectively, while talented 20-year old midfielder Moriyz Leitner was sent on a two-season long loan to VfB Stuttgart.

Jurgen Klopp also made three good signings. Shakhtar Donetsk’s Armenian playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan was brought in for £25M while young Gabonese forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was snapped up for a fee of £12.5M. Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos was also signed from Werder Bremen for €9.5M.

Matches:

Before the season started, Dortmund beat Bayern 4-2 in the DFB Supercup. Marco Reus gave Dortmund the lead in the sixth minute of the game, but Arjen Robben equalised in the early parts of the second half. Dortmund then took the lead through a Daniel van Buyten own goal, and Ilkay Gundogan gave Dortmund a two-goal lead just a minute later. However, Robben scored again just a few minutes later. The result was put beyond all doubt just four minutes before time when Reus scored again, thus putting the result beyond all doubt.

Dortmund are renowned for playing a fast, counter-attacking style of football that combines pace and power, ensuring that plenty of chances are created and that crowds are entertained. Their style hasn’t changed too much this season and that was plainly evident during their first league match of the season against Ausburg. They beat the newly-promoted side 4-0 with debutante Aubameyang scoring a hat-trick. Robert Lewandowski also got on the score-sheet after converting a penalty.

Their second match against Eintracht Braunschweig saw them get another win although it wasn’t as easy as the match against Ausburg. It took late goals from substitutes Jonas Hoffman and Marco Reus to seal the deal. Dortmund looked slightly off-pace whereas Braunschweig put in a spirited performance.

They made things hard for themselves against Bremen, for despite controlling the game and creating plenty of chances, they won the game 1-0. A Robert Lewandowski tap-in put them ahead in the early parts of the second half and was enough to see them through.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the star against Frankfurt. His two goals either side of Vaclav Kadlec’s first-half striker ensured that Dortmund maintained their winning start to the new campaign and went into the international break on top of the Bundesliga table with 12 points.

Conclusion:

The loss of a key player in Mario Gotze along with the addition of new players like Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Papastathopoulos means that Bayern are still a work in progress, and it has been evident, especially during the matches against Braunschweig and Frankfurt. While they struggled to create chances against Braunschweig, they managed to create many chances but weren’t too clinical against Frankfurt. And while Jurgen Klopp has maintained that Bayern Munich are favourites for the title this season, he has quietly gone about with his business and put together a very good squad indeed. Their new signings have done well so far and players like Reus and Gundogan have also been on top of their game. Only time will tell if Dortmund will be able to mount a serious challenge for the Bundesliga title or whether Bayern will win the title once again, but one things for sure; Dortmund have made a very good start to the season and if they can keep up this good form, then Pep Guardiola and the rest of the Bundesliga managers have a few sleepless nights ahead of them.