Bundesliga: “Absolute show of strength”: Dortmund’s tasks in the winter

Hardly anyone represents Borussia Dortmund’s high standards more credibly than Lars Ricken. The sports director’s resume includes three German championships, a European Cup and a World Cup victory with his club. The now 48-year-old famously scored the decisive goal in the Champions League final against Juventus Turin in 1997.

And even if his former teammate and current advisor Matthias Sammer might have put it a little more bluntly, Ricken’s message after Dortmund’s 3-1 win at VfL Wolfsburg was clear: “In terms of quality, we expect that we can achieve the minimum with this team reach fourth place.”

In order to qualify for the Champions League again, you will need a “point average that is well over two points per game” in the second half of the season, said Ricken. “It will still be a huge challenge and an absolute feat of strength.”

It has now been six months since Dortmund hired a new managing director (Ricken), a new head coach (Nuri Sahin), a new squad planner (Sven Mislintat) and five new players for around 80 million euros. And no one is satisfied with the first interim results at Christmas.

The convincing victory in Wolfsburg initially prevented the previous season’s Champions League finalist from ending 2024 in tenth or eleventh place in the Bundesliga table. The fact that BVB is now “within striking distance” (Ricken) of third and fourth place again also changed the perspective. It’s now less about what went wrong with coach Sahin in the first half of the year. But what can still be expected from this collaboration.

Brandt’s clear commitment to Sahin

“I trust this team and I trust this coach 100 percent,” said national player Julian Brandt after the last game of the year. “I believe in this path and I also believe that it will bring a lot of positive things.” Until then, this team must, above all, “learn to grow up.” More consistency, fewer rashes. More “hotness” (Sahin), less complacency.

The evening in Wolfsburg provided another impression of what sets the new coach Sahin apart from his predecessor, despite all his inexperience. Where Edin Terzic relied on control, Sahin took risks with his positioning. And if criticism always made the old coach a little suspicious, his successor is sometimes the loudest critic of all.

“Today’s game describes us in the first half of the season,” said Sahin: “When we get going, we are good. We have a very, very good team. But we have to stay on the gas pedal. You can’t play the second half. ” He “felt from the start that we were too sure of ourselves. We have to address that clearly. I can’t hide anything here.”

Is there another defender coming?

Dortmund still have a lot to do during the three-week winter break until the restart against German champions Bayer Leverkusen (January 10th, 8:30 p.m./Sat.1 and DAZN). The contract with the sports director Sebastian Kehl is to be extended in the next few days, even if the concentration of opinions and experts at the management level has already caused a lot of friction and a wrangling of competence.

And the thin squad could use some reinforcements in defense. Even though Ricken said on this topic: “We invested a lot in the team not only in the summer, but also in the years before. Accordingly, if we do something, it has to make both sporting and economic sense.” Many people believe “that we don’t have enough players. But the players we substituted today were all national players.” Just as it should be for a club like Borussia Dortmund and its high standards.