Kevin De Bruyne Downs Dortmund to Leave Questions for Thomas Tuchel Next Season

Borussia Dortmund's quest for European football took a major hit on Saturday afternoon when they made the quaint trip to the Volkswagen Arena and came up second best against an impressive Wolfsburg side.

Dieter Hecking's side have played beyond any real expectations this season and proved themselves as the second-best team in Germany over the course of the past 32 games. On Saturday they did that again when faced with the prospect of a rallying Dortmund opponent.

Although Jurgen Klopp's side did well over the course of the game and may have even stolen a point or three at certain stages of the game, there were aspects of Dortmund's game on the day that proved just how far they may well be behind the might of this renovated Wolfsburg club.

This was most notable whenever Dortmund tried to get close to the Wolves' star player, Kevin De Bruyne, who once again excelled against any opposition and looked like one of German football's most thorough talents.

Playing in the middle of the park, the Belgian international tended to find himself against the ageing talent of Sebastian Kehl and a wavering Ilkay Gundogan over the course of the 90 minutes. Kehl was too slow and Gundogan too inconsistent, yet that shouldn’t take away from a truly complete display.

Whoscored

As we can see from the WhoScored.com graphic above—showing De Bruyne’s touches throughout the match—the attacking midfielder clearly favoured playing down the left wing and capitalising on his left foot in attack.

This was most prevalent in Wolfsburg’s opening goal just seconds into the game when De Bruyne found himself on the left wing before swinging a cross in for Daniel Caligiuri to tap the ball past Mitch Langerak. All before the clock had reached one minute.

The graphic above also shows that the Belgian international had the most touches of the ball in midfield and attack aside from holding midfielder Josuha Guilavogui. An outstanding stat considering how far up the pitch De Bruyne was playing over the course of the 90 minutes.

Playing at the centre of Wolfsburg’s attack, De Bruyne linked up well with both Caligiuri on the left and Ivan Perisic on the right, while also linking up well with Bas Dost as the lone striker.

To make matters worse, De Bruyne’s performance offered itself as stark contrast to the continued faults at the centre of Dortmund’s own attack. Shinji Kagawa, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Kevin Kampl all started for Klopp’s side, yet none of them truly offered what De Bruyne has been doing at the Volkswagen Arena all season.

The Armenian international was bright in sparks, as is often the case these days, but never controlled the game like his opposite number. Similarly, Kampl and Kagawa had bright spells and good touches but never looked quite as dangerous as they really should have been.

Michael Sohn/Associated Press

Such a conundrum will undoubtedly be at the centre of new manager Thomas Tuchel’s renovations this summer at the Westfalenstadion as he comes to terms with the wavering talents in Klopp’s attack and decides just which players are worth holding on to.

Marco Reus, who returned from injury on Saturday, will be at the centre of Tuchel’s plans, but the remaining cast of attacking players will undoubtedly be put under the microscope and, should they stay, be asked to play more like the aforementioned Belgian international and less like the stars who brought so much trouble to the club during this campaign.

Dortmund go into the final matchday against Werder Bremen needing just a draw to confirm seventh place and Europa League football next season. A welcome end to a troubling season in which Klopp ultimately opted to call it quits.

Then, and only then, Tuchel will take his place and begin assessing just what Dortmund need to challenge Bayern Munich once again. Refreshed tactics, a new formation and maybe just a few performers like De Bruyne in this impressive win for the Wolves should see BVB challenging for honours again.

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