By Shahan Ahmed @perfectpass on Twitter
Friday’s Borussia Dortmund is not the same squad that won last season’s Bundesliga, but it is not a far shout from the team that tied the record for the best 1st half in the history of the Bundesliga. Nuri Sahin is gone to Madrid, the latest target of Jose Mourinho’s Bundesliga pillaging (see: Ozil and Khedira). Sahin’s presence in midfield will undoubtedly be difficult to replace. Sahin’s 6 goals and 8 assists, although certainly worth mentioning, were only a minor aspect of his contributions to a dream campaign for Die Borussen. He was the ball winner, distributor, and central midfielder needed to hold off the late-season challenge of Bayer Leverkusen. He was only 22, and he was the vice-captain.
Nuri Sahin runs to celebrate with Jürgen Klopp after scoring a goal
When Sahin arrived in Dortmund, he was 19 years old and turned 20 within the first month of his first season in Germany. Perhaps, that is the reason Sahin’s replacement is Ilkay Gündogan, a 20 year-old who showed tremendous promise at Nurnberg over the past 2 seasons. He is not Nuri Sahin, but Gündogan caught the attention of Manchester United with his play last season and even earned a call-up to the German national team from Joachim Loew earlier this week. Gündogan walks directly into the starting lineup of the German champions and earns his first German CAP at the age of 20. That speaks volumes about this young midfielder’s talent and promise.
Apart from Sahin’s departure, Dortmund return an almost identical squad from last year’s dream season. Notably, manager Jürgen Klopp is back. Klopp’s spectacles focused the vision of his squad when Japanese starlet Shinji Kagawa was lost for the season after only 17 rounds. Klopp’s black and yellow zip-up zacket, sweatpants, and matching tennis shoes were the style of Borussia Dortmund: young, proud, and unapologetically ignorant of what others expected. Klopp’s aggressive and rugged approach was personified by his poorly-shaven face and exemplified by a team that allowed only 22 goals on the season, half as many as 2nd place Leverkusen. Klopp’s experience as a former striker translated to the emergence of Lucas Barrios; Barrios has 35 goals in 65 Bundesliga appearances with Dortmund—more than 1 goals every 2 games.
For Friday’s season opener against Hamburg SV, Lucas Barrios is injured, and, to be honest, he looked like a second-rate player at the Copa America for Paraguay this summer. He was outplayed by both Roque Santa Cruz and Nelson Haedo Valez in Paraguay’s Copa campaign. By the time Paraguay reached the Copa America Final against Uruguay, Barrios was only playing the role of substitute. Still, with Klopp pushing him, expect the Paraguayan to score between 15 and 20 goals again this season, assuming he is fit enough to start about 30 matches.
Shinji Kagawa, Nevan Subotic, and Mats Hummels will be key to Dortmund's title defense
Robert Lewandowski will likely start in place of Barrios on Friday, and the Polish international became accustomed to starting in place of his Paraguayan teammate last season. Lewandowski scored 4 goals and created 1 assist in his 15 starts last season. Lewandowski scored 4 goals and had no assists in his 18 other Bundesliga appearances off the bench.
Barrios is not the only Dortmund player on the injury list. Left-back Marcel Schmelzer is not expected to be fit for the season opener at Signal Iduna Park, and Chris Löwe expects to deputize in his absence on Friday. However, the defense is hardly in tethers with Matts Hummels and Nevan Subotic returning to anchor the center. Lukasz Piszczek, who appeared in 33 of a possible 34 matches last campaign, also returns this season to fortify the right side of the defense. On opening day, ¾ of the best defense in Germany is on display, and the final ¼ is not far from being match fit.
With Jürgen Klopp leading Dortmund in their title defense, on-lookers would be wise not to underestimate Borussia Dortmund and write-off 2010-11 as a fluke. Arguably, Dortmund’s most impressive achievement was holding opponents to 8 goals at Signal Iduna Park in 17 matches last term. With Hummels, Subotic, Schmelzer, Piszczek, and Weidenfeller returning, Dortmund are ready to defend their title. Nuri Sahin was a big loss, but he was the only one player. Dortmund were the best team in Germany, and now, they’ll look to prove they still are the best team in Germany.
Lineup:(4-2-3-1)
Weidenfeller,
Löwe,Hummels,Santana**,Piszczek,
Gündogan, Bender,
Großkreutz, Kagawa, Götze,
Lewandowski
**Subotic was a late scratch and left off the bench
Note: Expect Kuba to come in as a second half substitute.
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