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Philippe Clement admitted without further ado that his team does not have the class to compete with Borussia Dortmund. “This is a team out of our league,” said the Club Bruges coach.
From time to time the BVB manages to adjust to the level of weaker opponents and then loses. But in the past few weeks, coach Lucien Favre’s team has confidently done their job as favorites. In the Champions League, the 3-0 win in Bruges was followed by a 3-0 win over Bruges.
“If it works, then it works,” Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki said with a simple formula. “The difference in level was too great. The players feel it. Maybe that’s why some enthusiasm went away, ”said Clement, defending the Belgian maestro’s shy aspect.
Erling Haaland also experienced moments without enthusiasm on Tuesday night. He was also so annoyed at a missed opportunity that he stopped instead of helping his colleagues with the new ball hunt. It will be exciting to see what the Norwegian will do when in reality he fails to hit several matches. But he scored two goals against Bruges. He is now with 16 goals in twelve Champions League games. In the Bundesliga he had recently scored four goals against Hertha BSC.
Three players whose failure would really hurt
Haaland is an exceptional striker and also an exception in the BVB squad. It is needed as a fixed point of the attack, as other options such as Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard and Marco Reus turned out to be significantly weaker. With Youssoufa Moukoko, Dortmund now have a classic second center forward in the squad, but he’s only 16 years old and a few days old. Next Wednesday, when BVB can be the perfect place for the round of 16 against Lazio Roma, he will become perhaps the youngest player ever to play in the Champions League. Favre denied him a substitute against Bruges.
Haaland in front, Mats Hummels in the center of defense as an organizing force with a good opening of the game, Raphael Guerreiro as left defender: these are the three BVB players whose replacements or failures would mean a loss of quality. If not, Favre has numerous opportunities to distribute the burden well over the coming weeks.
After the opening defeat, 1: 3 at Lazio, it looked like Thomas Meunier needed a break due to poor performance. But the Belgian international has improved and has played well ever since. Mateu Morey or Emre Can, however, can always represent Meunier as a right back. He can also play in central defense or in central midfield, in which there are already four professionals with Axel Witsel, Thomas Delaney, Jude Bellingham and Mahmoud, who can play according to the needs of the opponent and their physical condition without anyone being able to convince. later this may have been a foreseeable weakening.
It looks similar in the attacking midfield and in the winger: Hazard, Brandt, Reus, Giovanni Reyna and Jadon Sancho are ready for positions around the Haaland fixed point.
In Sancho, the trend in the match against Bruges was clearly upward. A nice 2-0 free-kick just before the rest whistle, Haaland’s 1-0 model, further precise passes and successful dribbling were the positive sides for the England international, who said: had a hard time. But the coaches trusted me. With results like today, I’ll go back to where I was. Here’s what it is. “
No more tests in the highest category until the end of the year
Young players like Sancho, 20, “can’t be in top form for a whole year,” says Favre. That’s why he “remained very calm” when Sancho fielded average, weak and even listless games.
A Sancho in top form would help the BVB a lot if in the coming weeks they ask themselves when the individual class will decide on an even match. For Borussia there is no longer the exam in the highest category until the end of the year. The currently best placed opponent in the Bundesliga will be 1. FC Union. This makes it possible to take players out of the rhythm of the English weeks and reduce stress.
The squad currently appears to be better positioned than Bayern Munich in this regard. The Munich side have more problems with injuries and Joshua Kimmich has also been a staple for the longest time.
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