Match Ratings: Borussia Dortmund have a Bizarre way of saying “Thank You” to 81,365 Fans at Home

In what should have been the homecoming to end all homecomings, even a crowd of 81,365 fans and special “Danke” kit did precious little for Dortmund’s performance. One would hope that after the international break (and a returning Marco Reus in the starting lineup) BVB would show their true mettle...which they did given that their “mettle” is failing to capitalize when it counts.

Read on for player ratings...

Starting XI

Gregor Kobel

Sarah: 6

Sean: 5

Once again, Kobel surrendered a bucket of goals, none of which were his exactly his fault, but it would still be nice if he could bail BVB out every once in a while. He could be a really great keeper if he actually had a halfway decent back line in front of him.

Raphaël Guerreiro

Sarah: 5

Sean: 4

Guerreiro had a few good movements in the attacking zone, but his defensive positioning was lacking and he couldn’t make anything count.

Manuel Akanji

Sarah: 4

Akanji has been so consistently impressive at the back recently, you know it’s bad when he rates only a 4.

Sean: 5

Mats Hummels

Sarah: 3

Yeah...our backline resembled Swiss cheese. A moldy block of it that you forgot you about.

Sean: 4

Emre Can

Sarah: 2

The only can crushed was Can’s ability to do his job. The only reason he’s not getting a 1 is because of his can-can (ha! I can still make jokes!) kick of an assist.

Sean: 3

I think his deflection on Leipzig’s goal was unfortunate more than anything, but getting caught in possession the way he did against Laimer is not something you want to see from your center backs. Can should know better than to play casual with the ball with no backup behind him.

Axel Witsel

Sarah: 3

If I have to sit through one more spell of Witsel crumpling to the pitch crying foul, I think I will lose my mind. Play the damn game, Axel!

Sean: 3

Jude Bellingham

Sarah: 5

Sean: 5

Marius Wolf

Sarah: 5

At least he tried?

Marco Reus

Sarah: 4

Sean: 3

Marco trying to pass to Haaland when he was in on a 1-on-1 made me die a little inside. He was mostly quiet otherwise, although he did have one thunderous tackle that saved a goal.

Thorgan Hazard

Sarah: 5

Sean: 4

Invisible once again. It’s no surprise the club is looking to offload him this summer.

Erling Haaland

Sarah: 3

Sean: 4

BVB’s star striker who can’t wait to leave for Manchester or Madrid is now scoreless in four straight Bundesliga games. He’s either in a slump, hurt, has run out of fucks to give, or all three.

Substitutes

Donyell Malen

Sarah: 6

I caught a bit of Malen’s game against Germany during the International Break and I really hoped his tenacity would carry over into his league play, and...it did! Too little too late, but he saved us the humiliation of letting Leipzig leave with a clean sheet in addition to three points.

Sean: 7

You know what? Good on Donny for coming out and actually trying to spark the squad. He fought for an admittedly sloppy goal, but it was unfortunately too little too late.

Mahmoud Dahoud

Sarah: 3

Sean: 5

I didn’t think Dahoud was great, but a 3 is harsh.

Giovanni Reyna

Sarah: 5

I just saw this kid play during USMNT’s match in Orlando and he looked fit and solid. I was glad to see he got some time on the pitch today, even if didn’t make a bit of difference.

Sean: 6

Like Malen, I thought Gio was pretty decent, but he came on too late to affect the league. It takes one hell of a player to come on and singlehandedly overcome a 3-0 deficit, and that was never going to happen.

Julian Brandt

N/R

Overall

Sarah: 2

F, F, F, they’re all getting an F. This was just deplorable and embarrassing. The fans deserve better and the BVB name deserves better. How, how, how are we in second place?! We probably have seen BVB play worse than they did, but it felt next level because of the packed stadium and the pressure to secure the win if we wanted to keep kidding ourselves about challenging Bayern for the title.

Sean: 2

Honestly, my most prominent emotion yesterday was sheer indifference. I might have been upset if the squad hasn’t been playing this poorly for months, but yesterday’s defeat is just one more addition to a long list of deflating, listless, heartless appearances from BVB. It’s clear to me that the players, and potentially management too, have completely checked out, so why shouldn’t I feel the same way? The only folks I feel bad for are the fans who went to the Westfalenstadion looking for an amazing experience and were instead treated to yet another dud.