Match Ratings: BVB Hit Wolfsburg for Six in Biggest Win of the Season

Heading into the final month of the season, if you were asked to pick one of Borussia Dortmund’s remaining games for them to thump their opponent and put up their biggest win of the season, which would you have gone for? I probably would have gone for Borussia Mönchengladbach. They’ve had a weird season, picking up a big win one week, followed by a thumping the next. Perhaps we’d catch them at the right time and hit them for six? I certainly wouldn’t have gone for Wolfsburg, who have had a pretty good season so far.

Well, as is often the case, I would have been wrong. BVB put six on what is generally a pretty solid Wolfsburg side, and kept chase with Bayern Munich to keep the title race in play. Although it was a fantastic performance by everyone in yellow and black, it was definitely helped by Wolfsburg being absolutely atrocious, but we’ll take it! On to the next one. BVB will host Gladbach on Saturday, just a couple hours after Bayern Munich will have been stomped by the mighty Schalke. Heja BVB!

Here are our ratings from BVB’s 6-0 win against Wolfsburg:

Starting XI

Gregor Kobel

Paul: 7

Joey: 8

Greg made a couple of great saves to keep the clean sheet and communicated well with his defense.

Mats Hummels

Paul: 8

He didn’t quite get a nod for my MOTM nominations, but Hummels put in another very good effort at the back.

Joey: 8

Stalwart defending from the acting captain helped ensure Dortmund’s attack had opportunities aplenty. Hummels produced several accurate long balls and a few key tackles to keep the ball from reaching Kobel’s gloves.

Niklas Süle

Paul: 6

Joey: 7

Julian Ryerson

Paul: 7

Joey: 7

The Norwegian hipster has been growing on me in recent weeks. He brings a tenacious energy to the pitch and he covered Wolfsburg’s Ridle Baku with surprising ease.

Marius Wolf

Paul: 7

Joey: 7

Stick Guereirro in midfield. Keep Marius at wing-back. #UnleashTheWolf

Emre Can

Paul: 6

I thought Can was solid, but didn’t stand out this week. That is in part due to the way the game played out, but with few (if any) mistakes, I’ve definitely got no complaints from his performance.

Joey: 8

Emre Can attempted 59 passes in this match and 56 of them found a yellow shirt. I’ve been loving this version of Emre Can in recent weeks. Eden Terzic has brought out the best in him.

Jude Bellingham

Paul: 9

It was a relatively quiet first half for Bellingham, but the sheer weight of his second half efforts more than made up for that. He was unstoppable.

Joey: 9

I was worried that Jude would have one foot out the door with all of the Real Madrid rumors circling, but I’m delighted to say that my worries have been quashed. Jude Bellingham wants to win the Bundesliga title.

Julian Brandt

Paul: 9

After several weeks of very lacklustre, if not quite poor, performances from Brandt, he looked much, much better against Wolfsburg. If BVB are going to win their remaining games and have any shot at the title, Brandt will have to be at his very best, and this wasn’t far off that.

Joey: 9

While he didn't find the back of the net on Sunday, he did earn a hat-trick of assists. Brandt was phenomenal.

Karim Adeyemi

Paul: 9

It would have been a 10 if he put the penalty away. It didn’t really matter in the end, but I also can’t give him a perfect score when he thumped a penalty into the stands!

Joey: 9

Forget about the penalty. With a five-goal lead, why not have a go?

Donyell Malen

Paul: 7

Joey: 7

Sébastien Haller

Paul: 8

I’m less worried about Haller’s goal tally than most fans seem to be at the moment. Players tend to suffer for a lack of a preseason, let alone half a year missed with cancer. With a clean run at things next season, I think he’ll be fine. His performance against Wolfsburg is, for me, evidence of that. He was getting in solid positions, linking up well with his teammates, and he was a valuable contributor throughout. The fact that he has been a little off the pace this season, at times, and that has limited his goalscoring, isn’t worth worrying about.

Joey: 7

Substitutes

Salih Özcan

Paul: 5

Joey: 5

Marco Reus

Paul: 6

Joey: 6

Youssoufa Moukoko

Paul: 6

I thought Moukoko was pretty lively off the bench, and could have got himself a goal too.

Joey: 5

Gio Reyna

Paul: 5

Joey: 6

Felix Passlack

Paul: 5

Joey: 6

Overall

Paul: 9

This was definitely one of the best BVB performances I’ve watched this season. Wolfsburg were really, really bad, but Dortmund also took full advantage of what was in front of them, picking their opponents apart with ease.

Perhaps most enjoyable (and certainly most important) was watching some excellent performances from some of BVB’s most important players. We need all of them firing down the stretch, and if this didn’t give them the confidence to go out and win all their remaining games, I don’t know what will.

Joey: 8

While I don’t want to discredit what a wonderful goalfest this match was, I have to admit that Wolfsburg were abjectly terrible, especially in the second half. It’s hard to imagine this team traveling to Bochum two weeks ago and winning 5-1.

I was really pleased to see Dortmund rally in this way after last week’s disappointment. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let’s rally as Dortmund fans and send as many good vibes as possible to our friends in Gelsenkirchen as they travel to Munich next Saturday.