Borussia Dortmund Edge Closer to Europa League with Victory vs. Hertha Berlin

Borussia Dortmund took another strong step towards continental qualification on Saturday with a functional 2-0 victory over Hertha Berlin.

Coming away with all three points against the capital side now means that Jurgen Klopp's band of hopefuls sits just two points—at the time of writing—off a Europa League spot and another season of European football.

Had Augsburg not overcome Bayern Munich in a surprising fashion, the Black and Yellows would already be resting in one of the remaining qualification spots.

Aside from the intricate consequences that follow each result at this stage of the Bundesliga season, Pal Dardai's side was already considered cannon fodder of sorts, having stumbled to a mid-table malaise in recent weeks. If Dortmund were indeed searching for an easy three points, then rarely would a more appropriate opportunity present itself.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Of course, in typical Dortmund fashion, Klopp's side seemed intent on making the job as hard as possible for itself before a ball had even been kicked.

Star forward Marco Reus had been ruled out of action earlier in the week and joined Jakub Blaszczykowski in the stands alongside Kevin Grosskreutz, Nuri Sahin and Adrian Ramos, just a few seats away from Michael Zorc. The Club's sporting director had spent the week talking to the media—as reported by Sky Sports on May 9— about the possible transfer of Ilkay Gundogan.

Dortmund may be riding the crest of a feel-good wave at the moment, having knocked Bayern out of the DFB Pokal, but underneath the surface, this club was still bubbling away.

Fortunately, such anxious tendencies had no such luck of transforming into on-field performances, when Neven Subotic rose above all else to knock home an opener in front of the Westfalenstadion faithful after just nine minutes of play.

Dortmund were notably encouraged by such a goal and looked like their old selves at times as they harassed Hertha for possession of the ball, despite never looking too composed in attack themselves.

Aside from the goal, perhaps the best moment to sum up the first half was the yellow card handed out to Sebastian Kehl in the 35th minute. This wasn't going to be a slick, cool performance from Dortmund. It was going to be dogged, and it was going to be tough.

The second half began in a similar fashion, with Erik Durm marching up the park just two minutes after the start of the half and knocking the ball in to double Dortmund’s lead.

The right-back was enjoying his more natural role on the right side of defence, yet on this occasion, he chose to cut inside and curve a left-footed shot past Thomas Kraft in goal. It was a goal befitting of the talented youngster but a rare moment of technical class in a game completely devoid of any attacking intent.

Bundesliga.com

If there was a caveat to Saturday’s win—admittedly, a dangerous concept considering how few victories Dortmund fans have enjoyed this season—it was indeed just how poor or jaded Dortmund’s front line once again looked.

If we take a look at the Bundesliga graphic above, which depicts the average position of the midfield and front line (including players who were subbed off and on), we can see just how crowded the entire attacking intent of this side was.

Whether under Klopp’s instructions or not, the likes of Shinji Kagawa, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Kevin Kampl continuously found themselves making more tackles than passes, more headers than shots and ultimately more closing down than actual attacking plays.

On a match day such as this, in a vital period of the league campaign, these pragmatic tactics can ultimately end up working out. As we saw on Saturday, Dortmund never looked too intent on scoring, but they also didn’t look too vulnerable either.

It was a dogged affair that ultimately allowed the recovering side to pick up all three points against an average foe. The result was exactly what Klopp needed and ultimately was happy to have.

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