Shinji Kagawa Defines Borussia Dortmund Turnaround with Ease Against Stuttgart

Borussia Dortmund waved goodbye to the threat of relegation and seemingly all of their troubles on Friday night when Jurgen Klopp's side arrived at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart and confidently disposed of Huub Stevens' troubled side by a score of 3-2.

The Black and Yellows may drop back down the league by a few places when the rest of the Bundesliga play the following day, but for one night only, Dortmund embraced the top half of the German top division for the first time since September.

The former German champions have now won three games on the bounce and only lost one since they returned from their winter break.

They may have conceded two silly goals, but Dortmund look as though they've turned things around. In truth, Stuttgart offered little but cannon fodder on the night.

The man who has defined such a turnaround is attacking midfielder Shinji Kagawa, who was constantly buzzing around the final third adding the magic touch to any goalscoring play.

Kagawa has spent much of this season dogged by injury and looked jaded when given a run in the first team. Unfit, blunt on the ball and a shadow of his former self, the Japanese international had come to characterise the very club he played for this season.

However, he has since burst back to life.

"

Guess who’s back? Shinji is back.

— Marco Jansen (@lifeofmarco) February 20, 2015"

Although star players such as Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may grab the headlines of Germany's Saturday papers—and quite rightfully, too—it was Kagawa and to a lesser extent his partner in crime, Ilkay Gundogan, who have came into this side and made it hum where it once spluttered and often came to a complete halt before the winter break.

The manner in which Dortmund stumbled to their first goal was a perfect example of the Midas touch that Kagawa possesses and has since brought back to this team.

Reus picked up the ball on the left-hand side, as he so often does, and decided to drive inside while Aubameyang opted to cut across him. The German international looked to have lost the ball when skipping past a second Stuttgart defender.

Kagawa, who happened to be in the right place at the right time—as he so coincidentally happens to be from one game to the next—pounced on the loose ball and played in the Gabon international in one swooping move.

Similarly, when Dortmund took to the task of regaining the lead after Nuri Sahin conceded a penalty in the 31st minute, it was Kagawa who played in the final ball to goalscorer Gundogan with a delightful backheeled pass.

Two assists formed two goals, and Dortmund were well on their way to victory thanks to the final, delicate touch of a playmaker at the top of his game.

Such contributions may seem incidental to a team full of superstars, but we simply can't ignore the manner in which Dortmund's attack—and therefore their form—has flourished since Kagawa upped his game.

Prior to the turn of the year, Dortmund's horrendous goalscoring had seen them knock in 18 goals in 17 games. In the past three matches with Kagawa at the helm, we have seen the Black and Yellows put 10 past three bewildered opponents.

On the night, the troubling aspect of Dortmund's season did threaten to scupper any progress, with Stuttgart scoring two needlessly easy goals and offering a few minutes of panic for Klopp.

However, the real difference between this side and the one that plummeted to the bottom of the table is the fact that it already had three before the Swabians bagged their consolation.

Dortmund are quite simply outscoring their opponents with some amount of ease—like the famous side of old—and in return are back to winning ways. Klopp seems to have finally found the missing piece to the puzzle that has troubled him all season, and his name is Shinji Kagawa.

Follow Stefan on Twitter @Sbienkowski.