Can Jurgen Kloppai??i??s Dortmund Echo Hitzfeldai??i??s Champions League Success?

Match day 5 in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League sees Borussia Dortmund sitting at the top of group D with eight points, one better than the Spanish Champions and six better than the English Champions. Not many predicted to see Dortmund leading the group after they were drawn into the group of death along with Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax.

Tipped to drop down to the Europa League, Dortmund have taken the imagination of the footballing world by storm with their attacking brand of football. After an unconvincing win over Ajax, Dortmund were unlucky not to take all three points at the city of Manchester. Dortmund then went out to unsettle Real Madrid, first beating them at home and then putting up an impressive display at the BernabAi??u that saw Mesut Ai??zil deny the Germans a double over his team. Dortmund now travel to Amsterdam knowing that a draw against the Dutch giants will ensure their progress to the knockout stages that they last played in the 2002-2003 campaign, when they made it to the second group stage round (equivalent to the current day knockout stage). Dortmundai??i??s performance so far has earned them lauds from all quarters with Sir Alex Ferguson and JosAi?? Mourinho quoting BVB to be serious Champions League title contenders.

The 90ai??i??s had proved to be Dortmundai??i??s most successful decade. Ottmar Hitzfeld who had taken over the realms in 1991-1992, transformed a struggling, underperforming side to title challengers in a short period of time. After narrowly missing out on the Bundesliga, Dortmund went out lose the final of the Uefa Cup in ’93 to a Juventus team that was made up of their future stars in Andreas MAi??ller and JA?rgen Kohler. Two seasons later, Dortmund had won their first Bundesliga title in 32 years and followed that up with another title the following year. They spiced-up their domestic success with European adventures when they defied all odds to add the 1996-1997 Champions League trophy to their cabinet.

Much of Dortmundai??i??s successes in the mid 90ai??i??s were centered on the brilliance of Matthias Sammer, Andreas MAi??ller, Riedle, Ricken, Reuter and Chapuisat. Hitzfeld had carefully groomed a winning squad, hand-picking players who had the experience and winning mentality to form the core of his team. Playing a 5-3-2 formation, utilizing a sweeper in the classical sense, Dortmundai??i??s Champions League winning squad relied on their full backs to provide the width with MAi??ller, Ricken, Reuter and Chapuisat providing the goals up front.

Experience was the key to that squad and with experience came the ability to handle pressure. Sammer, MAi??ller, Ricken and Chapuisat to name a few were all internationals and had plied a considerable amount of their trade in the top European leagues. The squad had handled their domestic aspirations well along with their European quests and an overall balance was in order under Hitzfeld.

Kloppai??i??s boys

Dortmund were on the brink of financial collapse in the early and mid 2000ai??i??s which saw a mass exodus of their best players to greener pastures. Flirting with relegation was the order of the day and it was not until 2008 when Jurgen Klopp arrived to take over did the club lift its face above the bottom half of the table. Shrewd purchases in Subotic, Barrios, Kagawa, Lewandowski and Hummels and the emergence of young talents from their academy in the form of Sahin, Gotze and Schmelzer have been key to BVBai??i??s resurgence in the last 3-4 years which has seen them win back to back Bundesliga titles.

Their return to the UEFA Champions League last season was a disaster to say the least, finishing bottom of their group which included the embarrassing match day 6 loss to visiting Marseille. Klopp and his boys though had their focus fixed on domestic dominance. It was quite clear from the on-set that Dortmund intended to strengthen their domestic hold rather than go for an ambitious adventure in their first season back amongst the European big boys.

The 2012-2013 Champions League campaign has started out very differently. After a difficult start to the season domestically, Dortmund started churning out results and the group stages arrived at the right time. Impressive away results and the overall commitment by the team so far suggest Dortmund arenai??i??t going to take this seasonai??i??s Champions League run lightly. They are one point away from entering the knockout stages on match day 5 and that certainly does speak volumes of their impressive cup run especially considering they are in the group of death. But, on the other hand, their domestic challenge so far has been far from a defending championai??i??s campaign. Twelve games into the league season and Dortmund already find themselves nine points adrift of Bayern. The failure to find the right balance between Europe and home has certainly started to tell upon Klopp and his young talented squad.

Dortmund in their 2012-2013 UCL campaign

The Champions league has a reputation of being a cruel, energy and morale sapping tournament with inexperienced clubs often finding its distractions to be too taxing. Talent is simply not enough and names such as Villarreal, Deportivo, Tottenham and Leeds come to mind when one considers teams that have performed miserably in their domestic seasons while trying to battle it out with the big boys of Europe. Jurgen Klopp finds his team in a similar position for the same reasons.

The current Dortmund team lacks that international exposure and experience that was so crucial to Hitzfeldai??i??s Champions League winning team. Back in ’97, in Sammer, MAi??ller and co, Dortmund had the leadership, guidance and international exposure for them to juggle and handle the pressures of playing at home and Europe. The German national team had just won the Euro championship in 1996 and the core of the club’s players back then had played a major role in it. The winning mentality and leadership was very much implanted in Hitzfeldai??i??s men in their ’97 campaign.

Hummels, Reus and Lewandowski are still young internationals and the rest have negligible exposure in the same. The experience of playing in unfamiliar conditions and playing against teams that adopt a different style of play to those in Germany can be quite grueling and the lack of seasoned campaigners in such situations can be a major drawback.

Winning the Champions league will be too much to ask from this young, gifted team and though they might go a long way into the tournament, Klopp has to keep in mind that he must not let the domestic campaign slip away. Failure to qualify for the Champions League next season will result in their stars leaving to other top clubs and Dortmund must do well this season to prevent it from happening. What Dortmund require is the induction of experience and leaders into the squad who would guide this enthralling and gifted team to the coveted cup in the coming years.