Spirited Defending Not Enough as Borussia Dortmund Lose 4th Consecutive Final

After keeping Bayern Munich largely at bay for 120 minutes, Borussia Dortmund must have entered the lottery that is a penalty shootout feeling as though this would finally be their moment. After losing the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2014 and 2015 DFB-Pokal Finals, now would be the time to win silverware again.

Alas, it was "another disappointment," as head coach Thomas Tuchel put it, per the club's official website: "We expected to win the game, we didn't manage to achieve that."

It was arguably their cruelest defeat yet, for they defended so magnificently in a difficult situation.

Their two defensive leaders, captain Mats Hummels and left-back Marcel Schmelzer, had to leave the pitch early due to exhaustion and picking up slight knocks, meaning Dortmund had to play with a makeshift back line for more than 40 minutes.

Their ability to force a penalty shootout was largely down to the heroics of three players.

Goalkeeper Roman Burki made a number of impressive reaction saves, Sven Bender played well in no fewer than four spots during the 120 minutes—all three centre-back spots in the five-man defence and a 20-minute spell in defensive midfield during the first half—and Sokratis Papastathopoulos was arguably the best player on the pitch. 

ESPN FC's Stefan Buczko rated these three at nine, nine and 10 out of 10, respectively.

ODD ANDERSEN/Getty Images

Bender and Sokratis in particular did their team yeoman's service. Throwing themselves into seemingly every tackle and shot with impressive determination, the two defenders exemplified the Black and Yellows' mentality against a Bayern side that came into the game as heavy favourites.

Tuchel wasn't content, however: "We did work very hard and we defended with passion. But you also need to give yourself a breather when you are in possession, we did not have enough of those."

Hummels echoed these thoughts in an interview with Matthias Dersch of local paper Ruhr Nachrichten (link in German), saying Dortmund lacked the conviction and courage to play out of the back against Bayern's aggressive pressing.

The Ruhr side created very little going forward, not executing on their few opportunities in the transition game. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had one golden opportunity to produce a smash-and-grab win in the 85th minute but couldn't keep his volley from a Lukasz Piszczek cross down.

Penalties felt inevitable at some point, and it's especially cruel that Bender and Sokratis missed their attempts from the spot.

Tuchel bemoaned his selection of the order in which his players stepped up in an interview with German broadcaster ARD after the match. Regular takers Aubameyang and Marco Reus were fourth and fifth, expertly dispatching their attempts, but it was already too late.

Dortmund's strong first season under Tuchel ends without a crowning moment, as Daily Cannon's Lewis Ambrose pointed out:

The Black and Yellows must almost feel jinxed by now, seeing as they've experienced every disappointment in these four consecutive final defeats: late goals in both 2013 and 2014, a poor performance last year against Wolfsburg in the cup and now penalties.

Dortmund must also feel harshly done by the referee. Hummels pointed out after the game that history repeated itself, as Ambrose relayed:

As in 2013, Franck Ribery was at the centre of the controversy on Saturday, though it's not much of a controversy looking at the replay—rather a blatant miss by the referees:

To be fair, Bayern could've had a penalty in the second half when Sokratis ripped Arturo Vidal's jersey apart in the box, but in order to beat a team of the Bavarians' caliber, calls must go your way in crucial moments.

That's not to say Bayern didn't deserve their win. On balance of the 120 minutes, they looked far more convincing going forward, and though it's a bit of a lottery, quality's also needed to win a shootout.

At this point, however, Dortmund would take a slightly undeserved win if it meant they'd get to hoist a major trophy. It's been four years since they beat Bayern 5-2 in a cup final. World-class players such as Reus or Henrikh Mkhitaryan have never won important silverware with the Black and Yellows.

With big changes coming in the summer—Tuchel used the word rebuild in his ARD interview—who knows when they'll come this close again.

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