INSIDE STORY: Dortmund rising to the challenge under Tuchel

Backer’s been there since 1992, and like many lost faith in the club during the high-flying years in 2001, when the club’s megalomaniac approach to keep up with Bayern Munich robbed BVB of its heart, and left the German powerhouse on the verge of bankruptcy in 2005. 

In 2008, when Klopp joined from then second-tier club FSV Mainz, Dortmund began their wild ride back to the top, first domestically, winning back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, and also lifting the German cup with a historic 5-2 victory over Bayern Munich in 2012. Striker Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick that night. 

Two years later, in 2014, Lewandowski, following a nearly two-year-long transfer saga, left Dortmund on a free, and – with Mario Gotze leaving in a shock transfer the previous season – became the second BVB star in two years to join Bayern Munich. 

The Pole’s departure was the final nail in the coffin for a club caught in a mix of high-flying expectations, a depressing seriousness and a lack of ideas of what to do with the ball when in possession in a post-World Cup season, which first saw them tumble, then fall – with only the safety net of the individual quality of players like Marco Reus and Mats Hummels – to the bottom of the league on matchday 19. 

This Sunday, Borussia Dortmund travel to Bayern Munich, and for the first time in years, BVB, at least for now, could turn the league into more than a one-horse race should they be able to avoid defeat at the Bavarian’s Allianz Arena. 

Why are they back?

Confronted with Klopp’s exit, the club could have mourned, and lost its head, but they remained calm. In Tuchel they hired the most coveted manager in Germany. During his sabbatical, after his sudden departure from Mainz in 2014, he had turned into one of Bundesliga’s urban legends. He was nowhere to be seen, but all his invisibility made him even better. The sky was his limit. He was linked with every club, and eventually became a Pep Guardiola confidant. 

During the sabbatical they met in Munich, and were seen pushing salt and pepper shakers around a table, inventing new formations and solutions for whatever happens during those 90 minutes on the pitch. 

For some, Tuchel turned into Guardiola’s natural successor, and at times people believed Bayern would park him as the club’s under-23 coach just to make sure he’d join no other club. 

Strugglers Hamburg, up-and-coming RB Leipzig, VfB Stuttgart and several other clubs also wanted him, but when Dortmund came calling in April, the 42-year-old ascetic did not have to think twice. 

“I had the wish to coach a top Bundesliga club, one with tradition, a real challenger,” Tuchel said. What he wanted, and what he got was “diligence, modesty, courage, and persistence” as well as an atmosphere free of “egoism.” 

Two months into the new season, Dortmund are still unbeaten, and have won all but two games in all competitions. 

My goal ahead of the season was to be the challenger – Weigl

What Tuchel has done is to add another layer to Klopp’s aggressive Gegenpressing, which had become Dortmund’s only idea in their final season. 

Borussia still mostly play in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but the adjustments made can’t be overseen. The full-backs – resurgent Marcel Schmelzer on the left, and Matthias Ginter as a makeshift right-back on the other side – have re-discovered their attacking spirit, and play high up the pitch, with especially Ginter at times playing higher than central midfielder Shinji Kagawa, who like so many other players ditched his out-of-form revenant. 

In holding midfield, 20-year-old Julian Weigl has become the main man. Last season, the youngster struggled at 2. Bundesliga club TSV 1860 Munich, who themselves avoided relegation into the third tier in the last seconds of a relegation play-off. 

“My goal ahead of the season was to be the challenger,”  Weigl recently said, using the same words as his mentor Tuchel. His composure in midfield, his excellent passing, and his recovery runs, allow Ilkay Gundogan to break the 4-2-3-1 formation when in possession.

Goal rush continues @BVB‘s @Aubameyang7‘s sensational #Bundesliga scoring run goes on #BVBD98 pic.twitter.com/VApUonGwAB

— Bundesliga (@Bundesliga_EN) September 27, 2015

The Germany international, who excelled in the first half of 2013, and then nearly had to end his career with a back injury, just like Schmelzer and Hummels has lost weight and won sharpness under the new boss. He moves up the field and joins the free-floating attacking midfielders Marco Reus, Kagawa, Jonas Hofmann, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and remains the go-to-guy, sometimes stopping attacks when there is no gap in the opponent’s defence. 

Gundogan especially clicks with the Armenian Mkhitaryan, who looked lost and melancholic on the pitch last season, and now oozes with confidence, makes runs, takes shots, plays passes and collects goals and assists. He has struck nine and set up a further eight in his 13 appearances so far, and has already bettered last season’s tally of four goals and seven assists in 41 games. 

Up front, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has filled the gap Lewandowski left. Already crucial for Dortmund’s seventh-place finish last season, the fleet-footed Gabon attacker has scored in each of the first seven league games – the first to do so in Bundesliga history.

“It’s a bit like the light version of FC Bayern,” Backer adds, “just without the individual superiority of the players. That’s what people like in Dortmund, the not-so-perfect, but often good. Maybe those salt-shaker shoptalks with Guardiola helped after all, you never know.” 

Backer, like all of the over 80,00 BVB fans filling the stands of the Westfalenstadion every fortnight, is delighted to not have to worry about too many mistakes when following the fortunes of his team. 

“All of this was only possible, because Klopp did a top job here,” Tuchel said in August, when Dortmund began their season with a 4-0 against Borussia Monchengladbach. “We only continue what Jurgen has started.”

 And indeed, while Borussia are back, the 48-year-old’s footsteps can still be seen around the Westfalenstadion. “He’s the by far most successful coach ever at Borussia, and an icon of German football,” Backer says. 

But Tuchel can fill those footsteps. He is “the challenger”, and ahead of the German ‘Klassiker’ it is safe to say Borussia might challenge higher than expected. They are hungry once again.