Borussia Dortmund were two teams last season. Five months later, heading into tonight’s Champions League reunion with Real Madrid, they may still be. They have a new coach and a rebuilt attack and defence — and they are better and worse for it.
They finished an unremarkable fifth in the Bundesliga, but under the Champions League lights they came brilliantly to life on that charmed run to the final at Wembley. They lost to Real Madrid but gave a stirring performance and flirted with victory.
It was a strange season and continues to be a strange time at Dortmund. On the pitch, they have drifted from the bombastic identity established by Jurgen Klopp. Off it, their reputation as a recruiter and developer of premium young talent has diminished.
More change is approaching. Hans-Joachim Watzke, CEO since 2005, will leave the club in 2025. Part of his responsibilities have already been portioned off to Lars Ricken, the former midfielder who has been promoted from his previous role as head of the club’s academy.
Before last season ended, there was also the announcement of a commercial partnership with Rheinmetall, a weapons manufacturer based in Dusseldorf. It was the first deal of its kind between a Bundesliga club and a company from that sector and it drew — and continues to draw — protest, with supporters accusing the club of conflicting with their own values.
Amid evolution and change, this is a difficult time to lead a revival, but that is the task given to Nuri Sahin, one of Klopp’s former players, who was appointed head coach after Edin Terzic’s resignation in June.
Sahin, 36, has perfect Dortmund DNA. Like Terzic, he grew up locally — born 45 minutes away from the city — and was a Westfalenstadion ballboy before he joined the club’s academy. In April 2017, having returned from unhappy spells at Liverpool and Real Madrid, he was aboard the Dortmund team bus when three bombs were detonated nearby as it made its way to the Champions League game with Monaco.
There is a great desire to see him succeed.
Sahin is smart and a declared football obsessive who still speaks to Klopp regularly. His style of play, at its best, is attacking and vibrant, and representative of traditional Dortmund virtues. However, his experience as a head coach amounts to two years at Antalyaspor in Turkey, meaning that, while this sounds like the right direction for Dortmund to be headed in, nobody can accurately predict whether it truly is the way back.
It all makes Dortmund and Sahin, and whether they can succeed together, one of the most compelling stories in European football.
Sahin during their Champions League match against Celtic earlier this month (Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images)
To outsiders, Terzic’s departure so soon after the Champions League final must have been a surprise — but there was a context, an argument among supporters that never went away. Some felt he wore his fandom too heavily. Others were unconvinced by the substance of his football.
Appointing Sahin as his successor was less of a surprise. Before last season’s winter break, poor results meant Terzic’s job was under threat. The compromise was that he would stay, but that two new assistants would be appointed. Sven Bender was one, Sahin the other.
Sahin was tasked with improving the attacking football and made an immediate impression, stepping to the forefront of training sessions at the winter training camp in Marbella. The players enjoyed his work and felt enlivened by his sessions. When Terzic resigned, Sahin’s work over the previous few months made him the obvious candidate. Dortmund DNA, those people who understand the club’s unique demands, is seen as crucial. Ricken, the CEO for sport, and Sebastian Kehl, the sporting director, are former players. That Sahin was another bolstered his candidacy.
Sahin took over amid a mood shift at the club. Mats Hummels and Marco Reus, iconic players, departed on free transfers. Dortmund also made significant additions: forward Serhou Guirassy and defender Waldemar Anton from Stuttgart, goalscorer Maximilian Beier from Hoffenheim, and Yan Couto from Manchester City on loan, since made permanent. A page was turning and there was a sense of freshness. Training under Sahin was intense, but jovial and collegiate, and there was detail that the players enjoyed during pre-season.
Much of that technical emphasis was on vertical speed and precision with the ball. Last season’s Opta data showed that Dortmund scored just 48 goals from open play, easily the fewest among the top five clubs. They needed to diversify their chance creation. In response, they focused on quick, direct switches of play. Sahin and his coaching staff also simulated first-phase pressure on their defenders, with the aim of improving exits from their own third. Sahin is an instructional coach who steps into sessions to demonstrate what he wants — precisely where he wants passes to be played, or even which foot he wants them played with.
In the background, there was a change to the coaching staff. Including penalties, a third of the goals that Dortmund conceded last season were from set pieces. Their Champions League final defeat began with a goal conceded from a corner. Even in the Bundesliga, they conceded 139 shots from set-piece situations, compared to Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, who allowed 70 and 78. The response was the appointment of Alex Clapham, a dedicated set-piece coach, who had previously worked for Genoa, Vasco da Gama and Southampton.
These were encouraging signs. Sahin also seemed to know his audience. Football is emotional in Dortmund and the locals want to be moved by what they watch. “I expect us to inspire people again,” he told the club’s official podcast.
But he appreciated the scale of the challenge, too. When the squad was unveiled at the Westfalenstadion before the season, he took the microphone to speak directly to the fans. “I have a request for you,” he said, turning to the crowd, “and for two things that you don’t get in football: time and patience.
“It will be good, we promise. But we need your help for that.”
Sahin before his side faced Stuttgart last month (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
“Like a rabbit in front of a snake,” was how Dirk Krampe, writing for the Ruhr Nachrichten, described Dortmund’s performance in losing 5-1 to Stuttgart in the fourth game of the season.
Dortmund had been unbeaten, including a winning start in the Champions League, but that afternoon in the Neckarstadion was humiliating. Despite fielding Stuttgart’s top-scorer (Guirassy) from last season and their most dependable centre-back (Anton), Sebastian Hoeness’ side outplayed them.
“I take full responsibility,” Sahin told broadcaster DAZN afterwards. “It was bad from the first minute to the last. You can’t play like that as Borussia Dortmund.”
A week later, they were 2-0 down at home to lowly Bochum who were (and remain) winless in the Bundesliga. It could have been worse, but that night would become an introduction to Dortmund’s duality. They came roaring back to win 4-2.
The attacking power and defensive fragility are not unrelated. Sahin is building a side who go forward with sometimes five or six players in advanced positions. However, without the balance to do that securely, it can leave them perilously open to counter-attacks, with too much space and too few defenders behind the ball.
Four days later, they demolished Celtic 7-1 with comfortably their best performance of the season. The following Saturday, they lost 2-1 — dismally — to Union Berlin. This has been the story of the season so far: hints of promise, illusory turning points and chastening defeats that draw a hail of criticism. Most recently, a 2-1 win over promoted St Pauli on Friday night was not as convincing as it could have been.
The negativity after the Union loss was especially vicious. It was not even the technical issues that were questioned, but the desire — the willingness to scrap for second balls and points on the road. Another common accusation is that this group of players is lost without their fans and their Yellow Wall.
Sahin is battling less obvious issues, too. He was hired on Terzic’s recommendation and then promoted from within his staff, so separating himself from that era and some of its frustrations — defensive mistakes, mental lapses — has been difficult. When Terzic resigned, it was his suggestion that Sahin take his place. A common social media joke depicts them as interchangeable, the same coach with the same flaws. It’s unfair and ignores obvious differences, but it explains why the patience Sahin asked for is not always forthcoming.
Still, Dortmund are determined to see this through. Sahin is a bright mind and a young coach with ideas. The club need and want stability, too, and seem willing to put their faith in his development.
“The most important thing is continuity,” Ricken said during the international break. “We have had too many coaches recently and too much change.”
That is certainly true. Sahin is Dortmund’s seventh head coach in eight years, a figure that represents an ideological drift. He looks and sounds like someone who might be able to correct that trend — whether he actually is or not is more complicated.
(Top photo: Nuri Sahin; Maja Hitij via Getty Images)
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