Nearly there ...!

The situation in the Champions League couldn’t be more different from the one in the Bundesliga. We hit rock bottom last weekend in league and tomorrow we’ll be waving ‘byebye’ to the other teams of the group leaving for the next round and just a small step missing to win the group as well. Nearly there …

It’s been a tough time to see our team suffer in the last weeks. Even in London against an Arsenal side that had better times we lost. Our first defeat in this Champions League campaign. Nothing to worry about because of the four wins beforehand. But still, a strange feeling that we couldn’t even win in the Champions League anymore. Of course, it wasn’t really necessary to win, the situation in the Bundesliga was more bothering than anything else and our boys in black and yellow might have been somewhere else in their thoughts. Nonetheless, the way we lost was disturbing. No attacking power, no defensive stability, no passion at all! Once you’re in such a hole, it is hard to get out. It was foreseeable that the match against Frankfurt might be similar. And again: No attacking power, no defensive stability, no passion and horrible mistakes lead to another defeat – self-confidence destroyed.

How much can you change in one week? That was the big question and a fear at the same time in our heads. Would this negativity continue? It didn’t. With a 1-0 against Hoffenheim it seems that there was at least a starting point for overcoming the lack of passion. The future will tell whether this was just glimpse of hope or a steady development. The passion to fight combined with the return of Hummels (or better: the Champions Leauge final defense) and Gündogan enhanced our play in several points leading to a deserved win. Hopefully, our BVB will now work hard against Anderlecht to keep the momentum and collect another success on the way back to ‘normal’. A success would be to win the game, of course. On the other hand, even a defeat could be success in terms of the group constellation. Winning the group should give us a way better chance in the next round and there are several opportunities to win it: We need to collect as many points as Arsenal in the last match. If Arsenal wins with less than six goals, even a draw would be enough. My suggestion, let’s just win our match and put all doubts away!

Anderlecht on the other hand is stuck. No matter what the result they will be playing Europa League next year. No back or forth, just some extra money to earn with a win against us. It is possible that Anderlecht will try to save some energy for the league where they are still close to the first place and the qualification for next year’s Champions League might be worth a lot more than some points in a meaningless battle for three points tomorrow.

Hopefully, the points mentioned are not a bad omen for a boring match and a boring 0-0. At least Klopp will bring a team on the pitch that should be highly motivated as everyone has to show that he belongs into the starting XI for the next matches in the Bundesliga. Let’s hope for an interesting and successful match! There are still tickets on sale, so a good chance to see some Champions Leauge football for all those having been unlucky with tickets the last times.

Possible line-ups:

Borussia Dortmund:
Weidenfeller– Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer – Ginter, Bender – Aubameyang, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan – Ramos

RSC Anderlecht:
Proto – Colin, Mbemba, Nuytinck, Deschacht – Najar, Defour, Tielemans, Conte – Suarez, Mitrovic

Seb, 08.12.2014