Household names they aren’t, but Lucas Barrios, Mario Goetze, Neven Subotic and company have presided over an extraordinarily successful domestic campaign.
Firstly, the defence, marshalled by Subotic and Mats Hummels, which was one of the best in Bundesliga history, narrowly missing out on the record set by Bayern Munich a few years ago of just 23 goals conceded.
Dortmund’s squad is already being razed. Nuri Sahin has been signed by Real Madrid, whilst Mario Goetze is wanted by Arsenal. Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic, Dortmund’s impressive young defenders, will also be highly sought this summer, as will their manager, Jurgen Klopp.
Several big European teams, including Juventus, Roma, Chelsea and Lyon, are expected to go on the hunt for a new manager this summer, and Klopp, along with Porto’s Andre Villas Boas, is sure to be one of the top names on potential shortlists.
Klopp has created a vibrant team, whose creative talents, Shinji Kagawa, Sahin and Goetze at their heart, have led the club to the Bundesliga title. And it is one of the most impressive title wins of recent times. Unlike the functional Wolfsburg team of 2009 Dortmund are exciting to watch, and more importantly perhaps, relatively cheap – the most expensive acquisition being a mere 4.5 million euros. This was a club who almost went bankrupt seven years ago. They’ve come a long way since, and have a long way still to go if they can keep what is a very good squad together. It is a team who have shown the maturity in the Bundesliga to stave off Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen to suggest that they could be a real force in Europe if they can mature as a group. Sahin’s departure and the interest shown in several members of the squad mean that could be unlikely.
They won big games when the pressure was on, such as a superb 3-1 win at Bayern midway through the campaign, and showed remarkable maturity to be able to lead for so long and to then hold off Leverkusen in the final weeks of the season as they threatened to derail Dortmund’s title hopes.
Dortmund now face a battle to keep this talented group together, but first, there is a richly deserved championship success to celebrate.
