Borussia Dortmund Have Been Unfairly Underestimated


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Witters Sport – USA TODAY Sports

After Bayern Munich‘s Champions League final win in May, the majority of European football’s followers seem to have a strong view that German football is set for total Bayern domination. However, Borussia Dortmund have been unfairly underestimated.

They silenced their critics in the German Super Cup on Saturday with a 4-2 win over Bayern in what was a real statement of intent. Jurgen Klopp‘s side have been unjustifiably written off as outsiders once again by mainly the media.

Despite having lost Mario Gotze to Bayern — which was obviously a big loss — they have managed extremely well to keep hold of the rest of the squad so far which leaves them in a great position going forward. Bayern may have that much larger squad that will enable them to go further in all competitions, but I feel people have almost immediately forgotten the strong mentality and togetherness at Dortmund that has produced the results on the pitch so often.

It’s only been one season since Dortmund were the League and Cup winners, yet despite reaching the Champions League final it seems a common conception that there is one stand out force in the Bundesliga.

New coach Pep Guaridola is a big addition for Bayern, but he has work to do to infuse his style of play at the club – it won’t happen as quickly as many are predicting.

Dortmund have adequate enough fire power to compete with Bayern in the League, and they’ve shown over the past two seasons that their quality is hard to match; yet many are ignoring this. Maybe this is due to ignorance that Bayern are the European Champions and therefore nothing can stand in their way, or maybe it’s the fact they’ve made notable signings that sound ominous.

Either way, less attention has been given to Dortmund who have spent big in relation to their typical transfer work and have brought in further young faces to strengthen Klopp’s already impressive youthful outfit. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is an example of them looking to once again replace a departed player with an ambitious and talented alternative. Whilst Greek defender Sokratis highlights Dortmund’s growing depth.

They have a task ahead to continue to hold onto their best players, but don’t for a minute ignore them or write them off. They are a real high class squad who are continuing to go up, and they are not far off Bayern at all. With the likes of Marco Reus looking incredibly promising for the coming season, you know they will always be up there.

Stowe Gregory is an English featured Soccer and Sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him or tweet on Twitter @stowegregory. Or add to circles on Google +


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