The football machine that is Borussia Dortmund might have its glitches, but up to this point, no one has been playing better football than them in Europe this season, as Marco Reus continues to prove he might be the best attacking midfielder in the world today, while Robert Lewandowski is showing no signs of slowing down, even if this is his final season with the team.
Lewandwoski might have been one of the biggest question marks walking into the new season. Unhappy about his transfer to Bayern Munich being blocked, and even with an upgraded and improved contract, the Polish striker wouldn’t have surprised many if playing well for Dortmund wasn’t in his main interest.
However, with nine goals and four assists after 10 matches this season, it’s clear to see that he has no intention of relaxing on his finals season. Emerging as one of Europe’s best scorers over the last couple of seasons, Lewandwoski completes a deadly front four that usually includes either Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Jakub Blaszczykowski on the right, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marco Reus unmovable and irreplaceable in their positions behind the striker.
Dortmund’s 3-0 demolition of Marseille was nothing different from what we’ve seen from them in the Bundesliga this season, as they’re coping much better with the focus of the Champions League and local competition much better this season. They’ve so far scored 21 league goals since the start of the season, including a 5-0 win over Freiburg as the warm up event for this match, in which Lewandowski and Reus each scored twice, with the fifth coming from Kuba.
Like Arsenal have been showing since the arrival of Ozil, the most important aspect of their attack is movement and fluidity, as Marco Reus and Aubameyang can start on either wing, which makes no difference because Reus keeps moving into the middle, using his speed and dribbling which won him a goal and a penalty kick against Marseille. Mkhitaryan is proving to be every big as efficient as Gotze, even if it’s with a little less flair and on-the-ball brilliance. Dortmund need efficiency and intelligence in execution, and that’s exactly what he brings them.
Is this the best team in Europe? If you put Dortmund lineup to lineup against anyone, including Bayern Munich, it’ll be hard to find them looking inferior. The problem will be if and when injuries become an issue, because for all the wonderful football Dortmund have been playing, with cohesion and familiarity of the system without making too many changes being a big part of the success, depth and an ability to cover for missing players doesn’t seem like a strong point this season, which is quite understandable.