Revised Expectations for Borussia Dortmund for Rest of 2015/16 Season

It's easy to forget now, but expectations for Borussia Dortmund's 2015/16 season were fairly moderate. The last year of the Jurgen Klopp era was too much of a roller-coaster ride, and the appointment of Thomas Tuchel was too fresh for many to expect great things from the Black and Yellows.

The head coach himself showed modesty during his unveiling in June, saying, per ESPN FC's Stephan Uersfeld, that his side are "a huge challenger in all competitions. Especially domestically." His goal for the Bundesliga campaign was to compete with last year's top four: Bayern Munich, VfL Wolfsburg, Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen.

More than halfway into the season, one can say that Dortmund have far exceeded that expectation. They've beaten Gladbach twice and also won their matches against Leverkusen and Wolfsburg. They sit second in the table, eight points behind Bayern but 10 ahead of surprise team Hertha BSC in third place.

Even if the Ruhr side's impressive season in the league would've gone better—for example, if they hadn't conceded a late equaliser at home against promoted SV Darmstadt on Matchday 7 or allowed FC Cologne to score a late winner on the final matchday of 2015—a real title challenge would've been too much to ask for.

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That being said, expectations for the Black and Yellows are higher now than they were at the outset of the season. The focus, however, has shifted to the cup competitions.

Dortmund advanced to the DFB-Pokal semi-finals in midweek and will face Hertha in the Olympiastadion in April. After a goalless draw earlier in February in that very fixture, everyone knows it'll be a tough game, but it's still one that the visitors will be favourites in.

That would in all likelihood set them up for another final against Bayern, who drew Werder Bremen at home in the semi-finals. If the Bavarian giants don't make the UEFA Champions League final this season, the game in Berlin would be Pep Guardiola's last hurrah with Bayern, which would only add to the spectacle the biggest game of German football has to offer.

Tuchel hasn't been shy about his admiration for the Catalan, saying during the Dubai training camp in January he was sad to see him leave the league, per Matthias Dersch of local paper Ruhr Nachrichten.

Raining on Guardiola's farewell parade in Berlin on May 21 would be a highlight to end the 42-year-old's first season in charge at Signal Iduna Park.

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Dortmund hope to be in action not only that day but four days before the cup final as well, when the UEFA Europa League final takes place in Basel.

With the round of 32 only beginning later in February, however, the Black and Yellows will have to show endurance and determination as they walk a treacherous path, even though their draw for that round, FC Porto, doesn't look quite as daunting now as it did in December.

Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui was fired shortly after the club's first league defeat of the season against Sporting in January, and his replacement Jose Peseiro doesn't have his side firing on all cylinders just yet.

However, there are a number of other terrific teams standing in the way of Dortmund winning the Europa League, such as Tottenham Hotspur, Napoli or Sevilla. The Black and Yellows would be only the fifth team to have won all three major European trophies, following Juventus, Ajax, Bayern and Chelsea.

Expecting Dortmund to join that select group would be unfair, but then again they are the bookmakers' favourites, per Oddschecker.com, for a reason. At the very least, Dortmund fans should expect their team to put more of an emphasis on the Europa League than was the case in the group stage.

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With a second-place finish in the league and Champions League qualification all but wrapped up already, and only one win away from a third consecutive DFB-Pokal final appearance, there's no reason not to believe Dortmund can mount a proper challenge in the Europa League.

Having far exceeded expectations from the outset of the campaign, you wouldn't put it past Tuchel's side to have everything to play for in these four days in May.

Lars Pollmann is a featured columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.