Shinji Kagawa, Henrikh Mkhitaryan lead Dortmund rout of Wolfsburg
Thomas Tuchel stresses that Dortmund will still be title contenders next season against Bayern despite losing Mats Hummels.
There was only one question before Borussia Dortmund's 5-1 home victory against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday. How would the Borussia Dortmund supporters receive captain Mats Hummels, who has been at the club since 2008 but announced on Thursday that he wants to leave to BVB's biggest rivals FC Bayern.
That question was partly answered before kick-off when stadium announcer Norbert Dickel read out the lineup. Loud whistles reverberated through the Westfalenstadion, most of them coming from Borussia Dortmund's massive Yellow Wall, where the hardcore supporters of the club stand.
The whistles continued throughout the entire first half, as Hummels could clearly hear what the BVB supporters thought of his decision. But as the team captain pointed out himself after the match, it was not the entire stadium. The centre-back received applause from the main stands as well when he was on the ball as many supporters wanted to counter the hostility towards the defender.
After Borussia Dortmund had completely annihilated the team they lost to in last year's German Cup final, the players approached the Yellow Wall. While Marcel Schmelzer was celebrated for his new contract, Hummels wasinsulted.
Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel rightfully pointed out after the match that the fans had overstepped their boundaries. Since it's still uncertain whether Hummels will actually leave the club to join Dortmund rivals, the captain will remain under close scrutiny.
Player ratings (1-10; 10=best; players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)
GK Roman Burki, 6 -- Burki proved his talents late in the game when Wolfsburg's Daniel Caligiuri sent a fireball towards the top right corner. The goalkeeper managed to parry it with a spectacular save. The game was long decided and Wolfsburg's four shots on target wouldn't have sufficed to even grab a point from this match.
DF Marcel Schmelzer, 8 -- Probably playing the season of his career (so far). The left-back, who extended his contract until 2021 on Monday, rounded off his performance with a perfectly timed cross right onto the head of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Together with Marco Reus, BVB currently have a highly energetic left side.
DF Mats Hummels, 7 -- All eyes were on him in this match. Despite loud whistles from the Yellow Wall, he did what he had to do and showed a seemingly unaffected professional performance with a couple of trademark long passes.
DF Sven Bender, 7 -- The centre-back put in his application for Hummels' position by showing a couple of pin-point passes with the outside of his boot.
DF Lukasz Piszczek, 6 -- Had to leave the field after 62 minutes due to injury. In the hour he was on the field, the Polish right-back couldn't impress with precision in the final third, because he was hardly ever there. Tuchel made the right-back a defensive minded servant of the team, making his match less spectacular, but the defensive structure led to a comfortable win.
MF Julian Weigl, 7 -- After featuring 49 times already this season, one should be used to Weigl's calmness on the ball. Yet it's still impressive when his teammates trust him with the round object, when he is surrounded by three opponents.
MF Gonzalo Castro, 7 -- Hit the ground in agony when one of his long-range passes didn't come off. Castro showed a solid performance although not everything came off perfectly for him.
MF Henrikh Mkhitaryan, 10 -- With plenty of nutmegs and two assists, Mkhitaryan's performance had everything but a goal to round it off. Yet he showed once again why Dortmund better extend his contract sooner rather than later.
MF Shinji Kagawa, 10 -- A goal and an assist within the first 10 minutes earned Kagawa high ratings early on. The Japanese seems to have conserved his good stretch of form and keeps delivering. His pass to set up Adrian Ramos was perfectly weighted.
MF Marco Reus, 9 -- Maybe not as many nutmegs as Mr. Mkhitaryan, but Reus roamed the field like no other player. He stripped the ball from Wolfsburg's players and made the important runs that hurt. His goal in the 53th minute put the crown on top of a great performance. Dortmund fans will hope that he can repeat that kind of performance in the cup final in May.
FW Adrian Ramos, 9 -- Ramos was on target early on to make it 2-0. An assured low shot to put the ball past Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio at the near corner. Ramos showed his doubters that he is a reliable replacement for Aubameyang.
Substitutes:
DF Erik Durm, 6 -- Durm is hard to miss with his almost peroxide blond hair cut. He was hardly involved in his 30 minutes on the field.
MF Nuri Sahin, 7 -- Replaced Weigl after 68 minutes and chipped in with a couple of key passes. The Turkish international showed glimpses of what he could produce with a full preseason under his belt.
FW Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 10 -- The striker bagged a brace within nine minutes after his replacing Ramos in the 69th minute. Those two goals kicked-off a massive party on the Yellow Wall, who also celebrated Bayern conceding an equaliser against Borussia Monchengladbach.
Source : ESPN
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