Tears were flowing like the rain in Dortmund during the swan song match for several notable figures. The focus was primarily on Łukasz Piszczek’s final performance, but in true BVB fashion the feels were rampant for the Bender twins and renowned Bundesliga official, Manuel Gräfe in addition to our own Piszczu.

Ceremony aside, how did the BVB squad actually fare during the 90 minutes of play today? Grab your hankies and read on...

Starting XI

Roman Bürki

Sarah: 8

I was fully prepared to go on and on about how insane Bürki 2.0 is, but that Lars Bender penalty...yeah, it wrecked me.

Mike: 8

I feel like Adam Darowski and I have been the only ones championing the effort to give Bürki his job back from Hitz, and his displays since taking back over after Hitz’s injury have been excellent. Yes, he let the penalty in, but Bürki has never saved a penalty either, so does it really matter?

Łukasz Piszczek

Sarah: 10

I’m still in complete denial that he played his final match today. I suspect we will feel his absence for sometime given the impact he has both on and off the pitch. He yielded a tidy and typical performance with 50+ touches and 80%+ passes, all as he rightly donned the Captain’s armband. #DankePiszczu

Mike: 10

What Sarah said.

Emre Can

Sarah: 5

Mike: 6

The Penalty was harsh, and before that I thought Can was solid at the back. I don’t feel like we take into account how much he changes positions and how difficult that really is. Can was thrown into the last match playing Hummels’ position next to Nico Schulz, not easy.

Manuel Akanji

Sarah: 7.5

Oh my God, Akanji is burning up the pitch! Another outstanding performance from this fella. He is operating in total beast mode leaving me super excited to see how he fares during the summer break and praying he stays healthy during his time with the Swiss National team.

Mike: 8

Did you see his sliding block to stop a goal?

Nico Schulz

Sarah: 6

Schulz had a couple of key moments, but conceded too many corners which are like kryptonite for this team.

Mike: 6

Thomas Delaney

Sarah: 6.5

Mike: 5

No, no, no. I never, ever want to see Thomas Delaney pop up on the right wing ever again. I do not know why he thought he should attack at that moment in the game, but it almost cost the team a goal at the other end when he put in a terrible cross and Leverkusen broke the other way while he was out of position.

Mahmoud Dahoud

Sarah: 6

Subbed off at the half (in what hopefully is a minor injury), Dahoud was unable to showcase his talents during a truncated appearance.

Mike: 6

Julian Brandt

Sarah: 6.5

Mike: 7

I felt that Brandt had a really good game again, and is really growing in confidence. It’s a shame that his season has been so poor, but with missing out on the European Championships for Germany, perhaps he will get focused for the next campaign to get called back up to Die Mannschaft.

Marco Reus

Sarah: 8

Lovely performance from our man, Reus today. He continues to be ever-present in the front and managed to deliver Dortmund’s only goal from a free kick this season.

Mike: 8

Reinier

Sarah: 7

First, he assisted that opening Erling Haaland goal. Then, he went on to earn a free kick as well as assist Jude Bellingham’s missed chance in the 69th minute. Nice turnout from Reinier today.

Mike: 7

A lot of chatter about this young man going back to Madrid, but he won’t play there either. If he sticks around, and performs well, he could get a ton of minutes next season should he continue to develop, especially if Sancho leaves for England as expected.

Erling Haaland

Sarah: 8.5

The goal scoring machine was at work today, delivering a brace for his team to help secure the win. The brace was only eclipsed by his post-match photo op with match officials.

MIke: 8

Photo by FRIEDEMANN VOGEL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Substitutes

Jude Bellingham

Sarah: 6.5

Coming on for an injured Dahoud, he was firing on all cylinders with a couple of missed chances in the second half.

Mike: 6

Jadon Sancho

N/R

Mats Hummels

N/R

Felix Passalack

N/R

Gio Reyna

N/R

Overall

Sarah: 8.5

There’s really not much to critique out of today’s performances. Some of the play was a little slow at times, but truthfully the squad just seemed to click. For me, that wasn’t what really mattered. The match was emotionally charged and kind of reminded me of the In Memoriam segment on The Talking Dead. The send-off was satisfying, like a good season finale. Enjoy the summer break...only 83 days until Match Day 1!

Mike: 8

Fantastic way to end the season, and it was good that their was no pressure on the team to perform given the emotional backdrop of this particular finale. Securing Champions League last week was a huge blessing given everything else that was going on today, and I am glad that Piszczek was able to go out a winner, it’s just too bad we didn’t have a rocking Yellow Wall to send him off in style.