Ranking Borussia Dortmund's Top 5 Players for March 2016

Thanks to a pesky international break, March ended too early for Borussia Dortmund's liking.

The Black and Yellows were on a roll before many of their players travelled with their national teams. The Ruhr side won five of their six matches across competitions in March, with the high-quality goalless draw against Bayern Munich the only exception.

Dortmund's 5-1 win on aggregate over Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Europa League was arguably the highlight of the month.

Considering they played their six games in only 18 days, praise is in order for the team's performances. And it truly was a team effort, as no single player stuck out with a great goalscoring run, for example.

Here, Bleacher Report picks the five most impressive Dortmund players for March.

5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang reserved his best for the Europa League in March.

Surprisingly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang didn't score a single league goal in March. He missed the last Bundesliga game before the international break, the 3-1 win over Augsburg, as he "was grieving the death of his grandfather," per the club's official website.

That makes his performance in the return leg of the Europa League tie with Spurs, where he scored both goals, even more impressive. Aubameyang's grandfather passed away on the Tuesday before the match.

The first he put past Hugo Lloris from distance was arguably Dortmund's best goal of the month, as this video shows.

StatsBomb.com's Ted Knutson highlighted Aubameyang's "transformation from a very good pace goalscorer to one of the best forwards in the game" this week.

His performances in March, despite being a slower month in terms of his productivity in front of goal, were another reminder of his quality.

4. Gonzalo Castro

CHRISTOF STACHE/Getty Images

Gonzalo Castro's upswing in form came at an opportune time for a Dortmund side that missed Ilkay Gundogan in four matches.

Gonzalo Castro's first year at Dortmund has been up and down, to say the least. March was an impressive month for the 28-year-old, however.

Ilkay Gundogan's loss—the Germany international missed the last four matches with a bruised foot—was Castro's gain.

Scoring an important go-ahead goal as a substitute against Augsburg and assisting four more in his five appearances, Castro might well have featured even higher on our list.

However, the fact that he didn't play a single minute in the meeting with table-toppers Bayern sees him miss the podium by a hair's width.

3. Henrikh Mkhitaryan

CHRISTOF STACHE/Getty Images

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is still arguably Dortmund's player of the season.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan's numbers for March might look somewhat unimpressive—one goal, one assist in six appearances, five starts—but his performances were anything but that.

With Gundogan missing, it was the Armenian who picked up much of the slack in the creative department of Dortmund's attacking machinery.

He almost single-handedly pulled his team out of their lethargy against Augsburg with a trademark performance Dortmund's supporters have come to expect from their No. 10 this season, as this compilation put together by Daniel Gubala shows.

2. Mats Hummels

Simon Hofmann/Getty Images

Mats Hummels' strong run of form in 2016 continued over the month of March.

Without doubt Dortmund's most consistent performer since the turn of the year, Mats Hummels was one of the main reasons his side kept four clean sheets in his five games in March.

The only blemish on the captain's performances was the goal Dortmund conceded against Augsburg, where Hummels was caught ball-watching, as this video shows.

Other than that, however, the 27-year-old was his usual reliable self in defence, while adding a lot to his side's buildup play.

He enjoyed head coach Thomas Tuchel's tactical wrinkle against Bayern, where Dortmund defended with a five-chain, which allowed Hummels to follow Thomas Muller, as Tom Payne noted on Spielverlagerung.com.

Muller, in the form of his life, was a complete non-factor against the Black and Yellows, thanks to an impressive display from Hummels.

1. Julian Weigl

Simon Hofmann/Getty Images

Julian Weigl tops our rankings for the first time.

It's difficult to quantify the performance of a central midfielder. Julian Weigl didn't immediately contribute to a single goal in March—he hasn't been involved in a single league goal all season—but he was still the top performer for the Black and Yellows.

The 20-year-old showed maturity beyond his years in every appearance, providing valuable cover for his back line and an always-open passing outlet in buildup play. Especially in the games Gundogan missed, Weigl showed he's developed his game even further in recent weeks.

His performance in the 3-0 battering of Spurs in the Europa League first leg was sensational. He orchestrated the team with poise and calmness that 20-year-olds don't usually have.

Per Squawka.com's Greg Johnson, he was "the key conduit" in that game, "linking together Dortmund’s play, ensuring their transitions from aggressively pressing to win the ball and then exploding with quick feet and clear heads on the break."

Weigl's impressive first top-flight season culminated in his best month for the Black and Yellows yet.

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