On a night when so much needed to go right for BVB to find a result, almost nothing went right, as Borussia Dortmund fell to Bayern Munich in decisive fashion. From the 17th minute, when Arjen Robben’s curved shot found the back of the net, to the final whistle, it just felt like it wasn’t going to be Dortmund’s night. They had their chances, and Bayern had their chances. Alas, until the 88th minute, when the match was already all but over, it was only the Bavarians who finished theirs. By the time the final whistle sounded, Dortmund faced a scoreline of 3-1, and only more questions about where to go next.

This probably doesn’t mean much, but compared to Dortmund’s recent disastrous performances, this one wasn’t too bad. The match was open and fluid, but it wasn’t by any means a one sided affair. Especially in the first half, Dortmund created several solid scoring opportunities, only for them to go to waste. Yarmolenko missed on two one-on-one breaks against Ulreich. Kagawa had a shot deflected just wide: Auba had what should have been a tap-in blocked by his own teammate Yarmolenko.

When Bayern had their chances, though, they finished them; first Robben, with one of his patented curling efforts, then Lewandowski twice, on two beautiful crosses from Kimmich and Alaba. On all three, Dortmund could have done a better job marking, but they were still excellent finishes.

My thoughts/observations

• I’ll let this speak for itself:

• Christian Pulisic was phenomenal, again. He looked frustrated at times, because he created several excellent scoring chances only for his teammates to blow them. Either way, I thought he was yet again Dortmund’s best player.
• Yarmolenko’s needs to do something to improve his right foot. He’s in the latter years of his career so I’m not sure there’s much he can do in that regard, but he’s got to be able to finish with his right foot.
• I would have liked to see Mahmoud Dahoud in midfield. He wasn’t in the lineup, so I assume he has some kind of illness, but I still would have preferred him over Castro. I don’t think this was Castro’s ‘worst’ performance (other than missing that tap-in in stoppage time) but I think his midfield play left a lot to be desired.
• I know many have been calling for Bosz to be fired, but I really don’t think this defeat lies on him. Bayern didn’t dominate the run of play by any means, and Dortmund generated enough chances that they should have converted a few more.