Marc Bartra, Sebastian Rode Shine for Borussia Dortmund in Man City Friendly

Results in pre-season matches don't matter.

That was true for Borussia Dortmund's impressive 4-1 win over Manchester United in Shanghai and is true for the Black and Yellows' 6-5 defeat on penalties against Manchester City in Shenzhen on Thursday.

Coming off some high-intensity training sessions in China's unforgiving climate, almost every player on the pitch lacked the required freshness to turn a mediocre game into a thrilling affair.

And it was not only the weather that played into that, as David McDonnell noted in the Mirror: "The Shenzhen University Stadium, with a capacity of 60,000, was only a third full, while the pitch was cutting up from the first minute, with groundstaff having to fill in divots at half-time."

Indeed, it looked like every hit of the ball took out sizeable chunks of the playing surface, which didn't allow for quick cuts and turns, thus hurting both teams' skilled dribblers immensely.

BVB head coach Thomas Tuchel won't mind the result too much, seeing as his side were arguably the slightly better team before substitutions turned the two XIs into makeshift constructs with little tactical cohesion.

Even then, there were positives to find, as Dortmund-based writer Stefan Buczko pointed out:

Considering they were without presumptive starters Lukasz Piszczek, Julian Weigl, Mario Gotze, Marco Reus and Andre Schurrle, the Ruhr side can be fairly happy with their two friendlies on the China trip. If nothing else, the squad had a lot of time to bond, which is crucial given the big turnover Dortmund endured over the summer.

No fewer than eight arrivals countered three departures to this point. Naturally, the focus in pre-season matches predominantly lies on those new arrivals.

Against the Citizens, it was Marc Bartra and Sebastian Rode's time to shine.

There are a number of parallels between the two.

Both are 25 years old, which makes them, along with Andre Schurrle, the seniors of the group of newly signed players. Both joined Dortmund from European giants—FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich, respectively.

Both played and trained under Pep Guardiola, which presumably was part of their appeal for Tuchel and Dortmund, seeing as the 42-year-old has partly modeled his Dortmund side in the image of the Catalan's Barca teams.

Both, however, are coming to Dortmund with relatively few matches under their belt in recent years. Despite the pedigree of playing for those big clubs, there was quite a bit of uncertainty in the air when the Black and Yellows announced the two signings.

Bartra played in 24 matches across all competitions for the Blaugrana last year but spent less than 500 minutes on the pitch in La Liga. Rode, meanwhile, played less than those 500 minutes for Bayern in the entire campaign, appearing in 17 games and making only four starts.

A step back in terms of club size will be a step forward in terms of playing time for both the Catalan and the Hessian.

Bartra has a much clearer path to a regular starting spot in Tuchel's first-choice XI. Centre-back is arguably the one position where Dortmund should yet add another layer of high-quality depth after the departure of Mats Hummels to Bavaria.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos and converted midfielder Sven Bender alternated next to the team captain for large portions of last season, while Matthias Ginter was something of a Swiss army knife for Tuchel, playing at right-back, in defensive midfield and only occasionally in his natural position in the heart of defence.

Twenty-year-old Mikel Merino, having arrived from Osasuna where he played in central midfield, has so far mostly played at centre-back during pre-season friendlies but presumably won't factor into the fight for starting spots right away.

With both Bender and Ginter travelling to Rio de Janeiro with Germany for the Olympic football tournament, Bartra is in pole position to start the season next to Sokratis. But given his ball-playing qualities, he was always the most likely replacement for Hummels in Dortmund's squad.

The question was mostly how comfortable he'd look on the left side, seeing as he almost exclusively played on the right for Barca. If his performance in the first half against the Sky Blues was any indication—he played right-back in the second—Dortmund have little to worry about.

Superbly composed on the ball and determined but fair in challenges, Bartra was arguably the best defender on the pitch.

Granted, he didn't go up against City's best attacking line, but you can only dominate who's in front of you. Bartra displayed excellent technique, as one would imagine from a player spending his youth in La Masia, as well as surprising quickness.

In that regard, he already has a leg up on his predecessor. Dortmund conceded a number of goals due to Hummels' aggressive positioning high up the pitch and his inability to get back in a defensive position. Bartra has the speed to recover, which should help the Ruhr side greatly against deep-sitting opponents who try to hit them on the counter.

Rode, on the other hand, has a much steeper hill to climb if he's to win a regular starting spot. Weigl is going to be a fixed point in Tuchel's plans, but the spot next to him is fair game after Ilkay Gundogan's transfer to Thursday's opponents.

Gotze could well end up playing in that role, as could Gonzalo Castro, Nuri Sahin, Moritz Leitner or Merino. Rode has a relatively unique set of skills among that group. He is the most powerful and energetic, a true box-to-box midfielder with impressive stamina and ball-winning abilities.

Whereas Castro and Leitner can be a bit enigmatic and Sahin has to deal with near-constant injuries, the 25-year-old is always at full tilt. The question was how he'd fit into the team's passing patterns and possession play in central midfield, from where Gundogan masterfully conducted his team's attack last season.

Rode certainly isn't as skilled as the German international, or even as Castro or Leitner, but he's so far impressed in pre-season—on the ball as much as off it.

Again playing in a deeper role due to Weigl's absence following Euro 2016, the former Eintracht Frankfurt man was heavily involved in his team's buildup play and distributed the ball well amid intense pressing from Guardiola's side.

He initiated a number of good moves, be it with a perfectly weighted vertical pass into Marcel Schmelzer's path or a lovely chip towards the left-back from the edge of the box.

Rode, of course, didn't forget about his defensive responsibilities, putting in a number of tone-setting challenges. Having spoken about his desire to become a leader in a press conference (link in German) earlier in July, the 25-year-old has grabbed the bull by the proverbial horns in pre-season so far.

With performances like the one against City, he'd make it tough for Tuchel to keep him out of the lineup at the start of the campaign, especially considering he'll have had a full month of training on Weigl, who'll only join up with the team for a training camp in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, in early August.

This kind of luxury problem that Dortmund could have on their hands—Castro has been excellent, too—bodes well for the coming season.

After a summer of upheaval, early returns look positive on all investments, and Bartra and Rode are no exceptions.

Lars Pollmann also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.