When Tottenham’s name came out of the little plastic ball at the Champions League draw last December, there was a tingle of excitement in the Borussia Dortmund camp.
Tottenham meant a second round tie at Wembley, a chance to test themselves against one of Europe’s strongest teams, but also a good chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.
The feeling in Germany was that Dortmund were an equal match for Spurs, and rightly so. At that time, Dortmund held a nine-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga table, having swashbuckled their way through the first half of the season with an exciting brand of football and an infectious positivity.
Borussia Dortmund were excited to draw Tottenham but their season is now crumbling
A loss at Augsburg allowed Bayern Munich to move level with them at the Bundesliga summit
How quickly things can change. A day after the Champions League draw, they lost 2-1 to Fortuna Duesseldorf. In hindsight, that was the beginning of a remarkable collapse.
Just a few weeks on, Dortmund are a team in disarray. Their swagger has abandoned them, and their lead at the top of the table has shrunk to nothing. After Bayern’s ominous destruction of third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach last weekend, they remain top only on goal difference.
Last Friday’s defeat to Augsburg was the latest setback in the league, but Dortmund have also crashed out of the cup and, barring a miracle in their second leg against Spurs on Tuesday night, are heading out of the Champions League.
In the first leg, what should have been a 50-50 tie turned rapidly into a walkover for Tottenham, as Mauricio Pochettino’s men picked off Dortmund with an effortlessly precise second half performance.
It leaves Dortmund with a mountain to climb – one Spurs goal will leave Dortmund needing five – but it also showed the difference between two teams which, on paper, are reasonably well-matched.
Spurs were mature, cool-headed and ruthless while Dortmund buckled under pressure. In the last few weeks, that fragility may have cost them all three major trophies.
They also face an uphill battle to overcome a three-goal deficit against Spurs on Tuesday
Spurs blew the German side away in the second half of the first leg at Wembley last month
‘The players are immature,’ said club legend and Eurosport pundit Matthias Sammer after the defeat to Augsburg on Friday. ‘Games like this are won in your head, not on the pitch.’ Sammer accused young players such as Achraf Hakimi and Jadon Sancho of underestimating Augsburg, and claimed that the side lacked the necessary motivation.
‘It’s not that they don’t want it, it’s just that you feel that some of them are fighting for their lives, while others just think it would be nice to win the game,’ he said.
Sammer, who won the title with Dortmund as a player and a manager, has also been brought in as a consultant this season, but none of his colleagues at Dortmund could take offence at his scathing assessment.
‘I agree with Matthias’ criticism,’ said sporting director Michael Zorc. ‘If we want to be champions, we can’t lose like that to Augsburg.’ Zorc tried to play down the level of the crisis, saying that this Dortmund side were not expected to win the league, yet he cannot hide the palpable anger which surrounds the club at the moment.
The collapse has taken its toll on the previously harmonious dressing room atmosphere, with goalkeeper Roman Burki tearing into his defensive team mates after the Augsburg game.
Club legend and Eurosport pundit Matthias Sammer slammed the players after their latest loss
Manager Lucien Favre and star man Marco Reus addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon
‘Sometimes I need to control myself during a game, to stop myself ripping someone’s head off,’ Burki raged after individual mistakes from Hakimi and Dan-Axel Zagadou had cost Dortmund another three points.
Questions are now even being raised about star coach Lucien Favre. The club spent a long time chasing Favre, and having finally got their man, he appeared to be the perfect fit. Now, though, some are pointing to his previous sudden collapses at Hertha Berlin and Borussia Moenchengladbach, and wondering whether things might go similarly south at Dortmund.
There is still much to play for this season, and with Marco Reus returning to fitness, there is hope that Dortmund can steady the ship and keep themselves afloat in the title race. To do so, though, they will need to conquer the individual errors, nerviness under pressure and increasing frustration which has plagued them in recent weeks.
Tuesday night’s clash with Tottenham is a chance to start doing so. With nothing to lose and very little hope of progressing, Dortmund can see the game as a potential pick-me-up, a chance to save some face and recapture some of the pre-Christmas magic.
Those were halcyon days, when beating Spurs still felt realistic and the world was at the twinkling toes of this young side. But it is not just Jadon Sancho who can turn on a sixpence. Fortune, it turns out, can do so too.