Borussia Dortmund vs. Galatasaray: Lessons Learned from UCL Game
Borussia Dortmund enjoyed more respite from their Bundesliga woes with another comfortable Champions League victory on Tuesday night. The 4-1 defeat of Galatasaray sealed the German club's progress to the tournament's last 16 in the process.
The Turkish outfit were much improved from their previous meeting with Dortmund a fortnight ago. Ultimately, though, they could not resist the attacking quality of the home side and did little to trouble them either.
A disappointing night for Galatasaray was compounded by more poor behaviour from their fans, who caused the game to be stopped more than once.
Read on for lessons learned from this Champions League clash.
Klopp Must Continue to Find Ways to Make Most of Brilliant Reus
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Along with the club's current status in the bottom two of the Bundesliga, the other prominent Borussia Dortmund-related storyline of the last week has resolved around the future of Marco Reus.
The attacking midfielder has been linked with a move to rivals Bayern Munich, potentially following in the footsteps of former team-mates Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski. The Daily Mail's Ralph Ellis even talked up interest from Manchester City.
For his part, Reus has not paid the rumours much notice. "There are a lot of people talking about my future," he said last week, according to BBC Sport. "Other people are thinking more about my future more than me."
His header in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Bayern, as well as his terrific opener against Galatasaray, will have further raised the pulse of the Bavarian giants if their interest is genuine. While keeping his star man will concern Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp, he will know the more immediate priority is continuing to make the most of him.
Like his team, Reus has relished the spaces granted him by Champions League opposition keen not to totally reduce their ambition to a game plan of obstruction.
He notably scored a superb long-range goal against Galatasaray last time out. The visitors' actually did a fine job of keeping the 25-year-old and his team-mates out for a good half-hour at Signal Iduna Park, but they paid the price when they took their eyes off him in the 38th minute.
With right-back Lukasz Piszczek on the ball in his own half, Reus sped across the pitch and in between Galatasaray's ball-watching centre-back pair of Semih Kaya and Aurelien Chedjou. The defender picked him out with a perfectly weighted pass, and Reus shot past the onrushing Fernando Muslera.
"Marco Reus: Has directly contributed to 5 goals (3 goals and 2 assists) in his last 5 appearances in all competitions
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) November 4, 2014"
The above statistic emphasises just how important Reus is to Dortmund. If they can continue to service his considerable, influential talent, it will surely go a long way to keeping up their Champions League form and turning things around in the Bundesliga.
It Is Time for Dortmund to Stop Making Excuses
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Despite the loss, Klopp will hope the improvement Borussia Dortmund showed against Bayern Munich on Saturday will mark a turning point for his team. They led at one of Europe's in-form sides for well over an hour, and they might have held on but for the interjection of substitute Franck Ribery.
When you look at how well Dortmund have played in the Champions League this season, they really are a better team than their current second-bottom position.
You do not lose seven games all by bad luck, and there have undoubtedly been issues working out a happy balance in the squad. Ones that extend back to last season and beyond in terms of their attempts to rebuild the gradually dismantled title-winning side of 2010-11 and 2011-12. But the quality of their wins over Arsenal, Anderlecht (who held the Gunners to a draw on Tuesday) and now twice over Galatasaray shows they have it in them to be better again.
These performances show why it really is time for them to stop making excuses for their struggles. Even if there have been genuine reasons to sympathise with them.
Of course, they have had myriad injury problems. Yet, they were without centre-back Mats Hummels on Tuesday, and both Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Neven Subotic ensured Umut Bulut and Wesley Sneijder barely had a sniff at goal (Galatasaray mustered just two shots on target, as tallied by WhoScored.com).
"Sokratis: MotM vs Galatasaray, Rating 8.36, Shots(OT) 2(1), Goals 1, Tackles 2, Interceptions 2 @BVB pic.twitter.com/ckY4gUsTwt
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) November 4, 2014"
Replacing the departed Lewandowski's goals has understandably proved challenging. Here, though, two of the players charged with doing so—Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ciro Immobile—combined excellently for their side's third goal, while the latter forced Kaya's own goal for the fourth.
Dortmund have the means to transform their imperious European form back domestically. It will not be easy, but they can do so if they get out of their own way.
Galatasaray Finding Some Fight Was Too Little, Too Late
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The 4-1 scoreline does not suggest so, but Galatasaray were far better than the last time they faced Borussia Dortmund.
For 30 minutes they defended impeccably, something that cannot be said about more than a moment or two from their performance in Istanbul. Led by Felipe Melo, the midfield hunted down the advancing yellow shirts just about every time they neared the penalty area.
Between Reus, Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Dortmund gradually began to work some openings (and threatened from set pieces with Papastathopoulos hitting the woodwork from a corner). But up until the goal, Chedjou especially was on hand to get in the way of most entries into the area.
They could have done better for Reus' goal, but then again, the swiftness with which the home side cut through them will not have been anticipated by many.
Even after Papastathopoulos had doubled Dortmund's advantage, Galatasaray showed heart—again, something that has been distinctly lacking from them in the Champions League this season.
Hakan Balta's goal—wonderfully delivered from a Sneijder corner—was just reward for their efforts searching for a way back into the game. The risk of the attempted comeback was shown in the counter-attack that led to Immobile's goal, but that Galatasaray were even competitive after an hour deserves praise.
Boss Cesare Prandelli will be wondering why it took them this long to find the ambition that marked the team's work in the tournament last season. It has come too little too late, and all that is left to fight for now is pride and a Europa League spot.
Galatasaray Fans Must Be Punished After They Let Their Team Down
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Last time Dortmund and Galatasaray met, it was the players who let the fans down. The creativity of the passionate Turk Telekom Arena crowd was shown in a monumental pre-match display and in the noise they continued to make even as their team whimpered in the face of defeat.
For the second time on their travels in the Champions League this season, it was the Galatasaray "supporters" who shamed their club.
The Turkish club were charged for "crowd disturbances and fireworks being set off and thrown by the visiting supporters" in last month's game at Arsenal, as per the Daily Telegraph's Ben Rumsby.
They were at it again in Germany, disrupting the match twice as they set off firecrackers, flares and smoke bombs. The referee called the players away from the Galatasaray end, while Melo and Selcuk Inan led the appeals for them to behave.
The first disturbance arguably went against them as Dortmund made it 2-0 straight after. Galatasaray had been preparing to defend a corner when the game was temporarily halted. Rather than a possible quick clearance, a wait followed and Papastathopoulos scored after Dortmund won a second straight corner.
The second incident was more worrying, with what appeared to be a flare and possibly more launched into the Dortmund section of the crowd.
Galatasaray is a proud club with a significant history. Seeing the team under-perform this season will not have been enjoyable for the fans.
That does not excuse behaviour that undermines their team's attempts to play and endangers other supporters. It is not tough, funny or clever; it is just moronic. UEFA must take a stand and punish these hooligans accordingly.
