MOTM Poll: Borussia Dortmund Claim Unlikely 2-1 Win Against Frankfurt

Everyone loves an undeserved victory. There’s something incredibly thrilling about watching your team hold on for dear life and somehow come away with everything from the game. That’s exactly what we saw this evening from Borussia Dortmund. Eintracht Frankfurt were much the better team, and I think everyone recognises that Dortmund were very fortunate to leave with all three points. But they did. They got the job done. Marvellous stuff.

I think it’s fair to attribute a lot of what we saw today to the combination of very tired legs up against a good opponent. BVB left absolutely everything on the pitch on Tuesday against Manchester City, and it didn’t look like they’d recovered from a tough midweek fixture when they took to the pitch today. If they’d been up against a weaker opponent, I don’t think the fatigue would have showed quite as clearly, but Frankfurt are a really solid team, and they forced BVB to fight for every inch.

It was a fight they appeared to be losing, by virtually every measure... Except for the score. And as anyone that is deathly scared of numbers will tell you, that’s the one that matters.

Here’s my desperate attempt to find four players that earned a nomination for Man of the Match:

Mats Hummels

Hummels was one of the few bright spots for Dortmund today. He was perhaps a little fortunate to stay on the pitch late in the game, but otherwise he put in another stellar performance. He’s been in really impressive form lately, and he kept it up today.

Gregor Kobel

Gregor Kobel was forced to play his way into the nominations for Man of the Match in the second half today. He didn’t have tons to do in the first half, but when Frankfurt turned up the heat, everyone around him melted like butter. Thankfully Kobel stayed strong and put in a brilliant performance to keep BVB’s noses in front.

Niklas Süle

I thought Süle was tremendous in the first half. He wasn’t as effective in the second half, but he earned enough good will for the first half to get a nomination. This may say more about the lack of standouts than about Süle’s performance.

Nico Schlotterbeck

If it wasn’t for his big pasty thighs Frankfurt would have had an equalizer. Look, it was slim pickings. Bother someone else with your complaints.

Your Thoughts?

Who else should I have nominated? Go ahead. Scream into the void!