Match Ratings: Mistakes Cost Borussia Dortmund in 3-2 Loss to Bayern Munich

Another Der Klassiker, another game filled with needless Borussia Dortmund mistakes in defense, referee controversies, and, once again, Bayern Munich walking away with all three points. BVB were unlucky not to come away with at least a point from this game. Their performance, for the most part, deserved it. But they just can’t get out of their own way sometimes. A decent performance unraveled thanks to some silly mistakes.

I’m not going to spend any time here talking about Felix Zwayer. There’s plenty of space to discuss the referee in other articles. The focus here is on Dortmund’s players. There were some excellent performances, and some less than excellent.

Here’s our player ratings from Der Klassiker:

Starting XI

Gregor Kobel

Paul: 7

Zac: 7

Kobel was tremendously unlucky to concede three goals, as he put up a confident and assured performance. He had an excellent save to deny Kingsley Coman at the near post, and nearly kept Robert Lewandowski’s penalty out.

Rapha Guerreiro

Paul: 5

Guerreiro had a couple rough moments on Saturday, one of which resulted in Bayern scoring their second goal.

Zac: 5

Guerreiro simply did not “Guerreiro” on Saturday. I forgot he had played until looking at his name here just now. Fortunately he was more competent than Nico Schulz, but he was still well beat by Kingsley Coman on several occasions and his clearance into Mats Hummels was an unforgivable disaster.

Mats Hummels

Paul: 3

This was not Hummels’ best performance. At all.

Zac: 3

It was just a week ago that I nominated Hummels for Man of the Match. Some of the calls for him to be dropped feel more like knee-jerk reactions by frustrated fans, but Dortmund need faultless performances from their defenders to challenge Bayern Munich this season. Against the Rekordmeister, Hummels did not produce and at his age, that can only go further downhill. Now that his injury is over, maybe Zagadou can begin to take up some of that slack.

Manuel Akanji

Paul: 6

Zac: 6

Fine by comparison. Akanji is fast enough to have prevented the first goal in my opinion, but I’m certainly not so maybe I should not be pointing fingers.

Thomas Meunier

Paul: 6

Zac: 6

Progressed the ball well and looked competent moving forward with Julian Brandt.

Emre Can

Paul: 4

Zac: 4

Can must have been thanking Hummels under his breath for making the type of high profile errors he has been culpable for in some of Dortmund’s biggest games of late, but he still ensured there was one in the locker; a horrid pass across Dortmund’s own goal that nearly cost him.

Mahmoud Dahoud

Paul: 6

Zac: 6

Jude Bellingham

Paul: 7

Jude gave it his all. Including leaving a mark on Manuel Neuer and Felix Zwayer. Gotta give it to him, he is a crowd-pleaser.

Zac: 7.5

An additional .5 from me for post match bravado. Bellingham may have a bright future off in the bright European spotlight, but he has cemented his place in the Dortmund history books as a true Black and Yellow.

Julian Brandt

Paul: 8

I thought Brandt was excellent until he was unfortunately taken out of the game thanks to a really heavy head clash with Upamecano. Hopefully he recovers quickly and gets back to playing soon.

Zac: 8

The most important outcome of the match against Bayern is that Julian Brandt was not seriously injured. Brandt’s performance was phenomenal, chipping in with the opening goal of the match and an excellent show of control and ball progression. It is a shame to lose him to injury, but hopefully he will be back soon.

Marco Reus

Paul: 7

Zac: 6.5

Additional .5 for that sweet tackle and nutmeg at the end of the game. Reus’s aggression and fight reflected that of the whole team. The captain led by example, and BVB looked the most determined against Bayern as they have in years.

Erling Haaland

Paul: 8

He sure can score some wonderful goals.

Zac: 8

Substitutes

Donyell Malen

Paul: 6

Zac: 6

I really hoped Malen’s pace would be enough to break Bayern’s shaky back line, but by the time he entered the fray, Dortmund’s influence was waning.

Marius Wolf

Paul: 6

Zac: 6.5

It actually seemed for a moment that Wolf had shot the ball so hard that he broke Lucas Hernandez’s knee. The lifelong Dortmund fan really has a cannon in his boot.

Nico Schulz

N/A

Steffen Tigges

N/A

Overall

Paul: 6

I’m torn between giving a poor rating for the defensive mistakes and a good rating for the rest of the performance. I thought BVB played pretty well, fought Bayern real close, and if it wasn’t for some stupid mistakes, they might have come away from this game with something to show for it.

Zac: 7

Dortmund played their best game against Bayern in years ahead of the halfway line, and orchestrated their own demise behind it. Tactically Bayern showed their weak spots, and Dortmund in return handed over three bottom-of-the-barrel goals that cost the team the game. There are massive positives to take from this match, mainly that it was as even as this rivalry has looked for a while now. Marco Rose will know that it was not a gulf in quality and truly, not the bleak refereeing, but split-second lapses of concentration which put his team out of this contest.