In the previous seasons, the opponents surrendered to Bayern quite early. In the 2021/22 season, the Gray Lobster finished 8 points ahead of Dortmund. A year ago, Bayern was 13 points ahead of RB Leipzig. In the 2019/20 season, Dortmund continued to finish second, looking up at Bayern with a distance of 13 points. If we really talk about a “two-horse” race, it must be the 2018/19 season, where Dortmund and the great rival are only 2 points apart. At that time, in the last 4 rounds, Bayern only won 8 points. But Dortmund was even worse when they only won 7 points and accepted the status of a latecomer to glory.
Obviously, Dortmund don’t want to go down the same path again this season. But the reality is that they… did. Even ignoring the direct defeat against Bayern in Munich on April 1, Dortmund still regained the top spot in the following rounds. Unfortunately, two disastrous draws with Stuttgart and Bochum made Dortmund “shoot themselves in the foot” and are now 1 point behind Bayern.
If they don’t win the title this season, Dortmund will have to blame themselves a lot because there are not many times when Bayern is as unstable as the period when Thomas Tuchel took over to replace Nagelsmann. Now it seems Tuchel has found the winning formula and steered the Bayern ship very steadily. Most recently, in round 32, the Gray Lobster destroyed Schalker with the score of a white tennis lightning 6-0. In the last 3 matches, Tuchel’s teachers and students won all 9 points, scored 10 goals and only conceded 1 time. The image of a strong and dominant Bayern has returned and that is not a good sign for Dortmund.
Bayern’s victory pushed Dortmund into a situation where they were forced to win 3 points against Monchengladbach. Also playing at home, the yellow and black striped team quickly dominated the game. They took exactly 5 minutes to score the opener thanks to Donyell Malen’s goal. In consecutive minutes 18, 20 and 32, Dortmund scored 3 more goals to soon finish the opponent. The second half was played at a slower pace as the scoring opportunities split equally between both teams. Similar to Bayern, Dortmund had an equally quality performance. They hit 34 shots and sent the ball into goal 12 times. In the end, Dortmund defeated the visitors with a score of 5-2. Fans regret why is Dortmund speeding up now? But still water slap!
In the last two rounds, Bayern met RB Leipzig and Cologne respectively. The opportunity for the Signal Iduna Park home club is still there when Tuchel’s teachers and students have to face a resurgent Leipzig and fierce competition for a place in the Top 4. Meanwhile, Dortmund only have to face Augsburg and Mainz.
Dortmund is obsessed with Bayern
Before the reign of Bayern for the past 10 years, Dortmund had 2 consecutive Bundesliga titles, including 1 season in which the Gray Lobster was the runner-up. However, what Bayern made Dortmund suffer was much more terrible. If the current standings do not change at the end of this season, Dortmund will have the 7th season just below Bayern in the championship race for the past 11 years. In addition, other runners-up during Bayern’s dominance were Wolfsburg (2014/15), RB Leipzig (2016/17 and 2020/21) and Schalke (2017/18).
