Month: August 2022

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Borussia Dortmund

Ranking the 10 Best Borussia Dortmund Players of all time

Borussia Dortmund is one of the most successful clubs in Germany and here we learn about the 10 best Borussia Dortmund players of all time.

10. Alfred Preissler

With 168 goals in the yellow jersey, Alfred Preissleris Borussia Dortmund’s all-time leading scorer. He joined Borussia Dortmund towards the conclusion of WWII and served as the team’s captain for many years.

In 1956, Preissler assisted die Schwarzgleben in winning the Bundesliga for the first time, a feat for which 250,000 supporters allegedly lined the streets of Dortmund when the team returned. He was a member of the ‘The Alfredos,’ a legendary attacking three that included Alfred Kebassa and Alfred Niepieklo, who helped BVB regain the cup in 1957.

He is still remembered as a legend, with the ‘Adi-Preißler-Alle’ named after him at the BVB training field.

9. Mats Hummels

Mats Hummels is often likened to German icon Franz Beckenbauer because of his size, height, and dominance.

The trio, along with Neven Suboti, held the fort throughout the 2010/11 season, when Dortmund won the league with the greatest defensive record – second-placed Bayer Leverkusen surrendered twice as many, and with the second-fewest goals against, Mainz let in a massive 17 goals more than BVB’s 22.

Since he began his youth career with Bayern Munich at the age of six, Hummels has gone to and from the club. After losing in the 2013 Champions League final against Die Roten, he rejoined them until returning to BVB for £33 million in 2018.

8. Stefan Reuter

Stefan Reuter has made more appearances than only two other players in Dortmund history. He was the club’s captain for six years. Reuter, a winger known as ‘Turbo’ because of his lightning pace, made 307 appearances for the club during his 12 years there, scoring 12 goals and setting up 17 others.

7. Roman Weidenfeller

With 453 appearances in a BVB shirt since his arrival in the summer of 2002, Weidenfeller is the club’s finest ever goalkeeper, second only to Michael Zorc in the club’s history.

Weidenfeller, who was a key member of Jurgen Klopp’s squad at the start of the previous decade and played a key role in the double-winning 2011/12 season, regularly functioned as captain in the absence of Sebastian Kehl before taking up the armband in his last years of football. In that historic game, he captained BVB at Wembley in the 2013 UCL final.

Roman Weidenfeller has made more appearances for Dortmund than any other goalkeeper. He is regarded as one of Dortmund’s greatest footballers of all time. Roman is one of Die Borussen’s longest-serving stars.

6. Matthias Sammer

Matthias Sammer is one of the most decorated German footballers of all time. Sammer joined Dortmund from Inter Milan in the middle of the 1992/93 season and made an immediate impression, scoring ten goals before reverting to a sweeper role and becoming a cornerstone of the BVB defence.

Sammer has the distinction of being the only Dortmund captain to ever win the Champions League, which he did in 1997. In 2002, he led Dortmund to another Bundesliga title.

5. Jurgen Kohler

Known to BVB fans as a football God and one of the finest Dortmund players ever, he was portrayed by the Frankfurter tabloid as an on-field human stop sign. The nickname was developed following an epic performance at Old Trafford in 1996/97 UCL semi-final second leg against the Red Devils.

Following Lars Ricken’s opening goal, Kohler established an incredible record with three clearances off the line against David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, and Eric Cantona, allowing Dortmund to win 2-0 on aggregate.

Kohler had been battling sickness prior to the match, which was surprising. BVB went on to win the cup for the first time in their history, but Kohler is remembered for more than just that one season.

4. Andreas Möller

Andreas Möller was a three-dimensional menace for Dortmund, capable on both feet and in the air. He scored 88 goals for Dortmund in two spells as an offensive midfielder, broken by a term at Juventus, where he was part of the team that defeated the Schwarzgelben in the 1993 UEFA Cup final.

Möller, a gifted player, assisted on nearly as many goals as he scored, totaling 84. One of these came in the 1997 Champions League final, when he set up Lars Ricken for BVB’s third goal of the game, which put previous club Juventus out of the competition.

3. Michael Zorc

Michael Zorc is most likely the best personification of Borussia Dortmund. He joined the club’s academy at the age of 16 and went on to play 572 appearances for Dortmund. Despite being a midfielder, he has 159 goals to his name, making him BVB’s all-time leading goalscorer.

Zorc, Dortmund’s captain since 1988, presided over one of the club’s most lucrative periods. In his debut season as captain, Zorc won the DFB Cup, and in 1997, he also won the Bundesliga and the Champions League in consecutive years. He resigned the next year and went straight into club administration, eventually becoming sports director in 2005.

Zorc is another Dortmund player who holds the record for most games played with the club, with 572 appearances. He scored more than 10 goals in seven separate seasons, putting him in the second position on the all-time list of Dortmund goal scorers.

2. Lars Ricken

Lars Ricken grew up in Dortmund and, at the age of 17 years, seven months, and 27 days, became the club’s youngest player ever in 1994.

When he scored the game’s third and final goal, the loyal yellow shattered yet another record, leading to BVB’s first and only Champions League championship. He scored just 16 seconds after coming in to replace Stephane Chapuisat, lobbing the keeper from 25 yards; no sub has ever scored in a Champions League final quicker than that.

1. Marco Reus

Both Reus and Zorc have comparable traits; they are two of the finest footballers to ever wear the black and yellow of Dortmund. Perhaps Reus’ inability to progress was due to an unfortunate history of injuries.

After all, it’s a remarkable 270-game streak with 131 goals and 82 assists. Every playmaker will be grateful if they can contribute to a goal in four out of every five games. Marco Reus has been named Dortmund’s season player on two occasions.

For the second year in a row, he has been named German Footballer of the Year. Reus has established himself as one of Dortmund’s top players of all time.

Categories
Bayern Munchen

‘It’s fun to be up front’ – Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala excels again

For the second time in as many games, Jamal Musiala was Bayern’s standout performer. The teenager enjoyed himself in the victory against Wolfsburg and is becoming central to Julian Nagelsmann and Hansi Flick’s plans.

With every passing Bundesliga matchday, there’s mounting evidence that this will be Jamal Musiala’s season.

Bayern Munich‘s 2-0 home win over Wolfsburg was routine and a game in which Joshua Kimmich, Benjamin Pavard, Thomas Müller and Marcel Sabitzer, increasingly comfortable in Bayern colors, all exceled. But the one player who stood out again was Musiala.

“We are very flexible and rotate quite a bit,” he said of Bayern’s attack after the win, in which he and Müller scored before the break. “We have a lot of control up front, have a lot of ball contact and runs deep. It’s fun to be up front.

“Things are going very, very well for us. We’re playing good soccer, like we practice all the time in training. We’re trying to bring the same energy and style of play to the pitch here.”

Bayern and Germany’s gain

This wasn’t a vintage game or performance by Bayern but it was another indicator of Musiala’s precocious talent, which has been clear for a couple of seasons now. Even at 17, he was a Hansi Flick favorite, with the now Germany coach selecting him regularly in the Bundesliga and Champions League. That bodes well for Musiala, now 19, three months ahead of a World Cup, with his chances of being Flick’s trequartista in Qatar growing more likely by the day.

Musiala, who is developing an intuitive understanding with Alphonso Davies, is hitting form at just the right time. Against Wolfsburg, he was the channel through which everything seemed to go. Müller operates closer to the penalty box following Robert Lewandowski’s departure, which gives Musiala the space to do what he’s best at: drive at defenders, create chances for others, and score. Before the Pole’s departure, Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann found it difficult to accommodate all three forwards – but given Sadio Mane‘s different skillset, there’s now space for both Musiala and his idol, Müller.

When Bayern made the breakthough against a Wolfsburg team who defended pretty stubbornly but ultimately had no answer to Bayern’s multitude of attacking options, it was Musiala who pierced through. He showed strength in bouncing off Wolfsburg’s French defender Maxence Lacroix and tenacity by staying on his feet as Patrick Wimmer came steaming in. In doing so, he crafted the space outside the box to let fly with an arrowed shot into the bottom corner. Musiala is a natural finisher, but he has a physical strength that most teenagers don’t possess.

When Nagelsmann switched things up at halftime, it was Gnabry whom he replaced with Leroy Sane – not Musiala. The man from Fulda who spent his formative years in South London has become a permanent fixture again at Bayern, bulking up too to become as physically imposing as he is fleet-footed.

‘There must be more to come’

It’s not as if Bayern don’t know that they have a potentially world class talent on their hands. Here’s what Oliver Kahn, Bayern’s CEO, had to say after the game: “I just met Jamal in the dressing room and said that there must be more to come. No, he’s had a great start to the season. How he plays is already outstanding at the moment, extraordinary.”

With Lewandowksi gone and Müller pushed up higher – as he plays for Germany – Musiala can enjoy himself in attacking midfield. Of course, Mane and Serge Gnabry need to be accommodated in the system too which means that Musiala tends to drift out to the left while Gnabry operates on the right. Musiala’s gain has come at a time when Leon Goretzka remains out with a knee injury – but after two wins from two and standout performances by Musiala in Frankfurt and again here against Wolfsburg, Goretzka might find it hard to displace the youngster.

It’s still early days with stiffer challengers in wait, but Musiala remains the bright light of Bayern’s post-Lewandowski era, and just might be Germany’s secret weapon in Qatar. Although to those familiar with the Bundesliga, the secret is already out.

Thomas Tuchel responds to Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Chelsea

Cristiano Ronaldo amid the forward informing Manchester United he wants to leave the club this summer if a suitable offer arrives.

Manchester United currently insist Ronaldo is not for sale and have reiterated that he is contracted until 2023.

But the 37-year-old has made clear his desire to depart and did not return for pre-season training on Monday as scheduled, citing family reasons.

Reports in The Athletic earlier this month suggested the Blues are weighing up the idea of signing Ronaldo.

Tuchel is in need of a new centre-forward at Chelsea this summer after £97.5million club-record buy Romelu Lukaku, who scored just eight Premier League goals in 2021/22, was allowed to rejoin Inter Milan on loan.

Ronaldo bagged 24 goals for a United side in disarray last season, meaning on paper he appears to be exactly what the Blues are missing at the pinpoint of their attack.

Yet Tuchel is concerned the former Real Madrid and Juventus forward’s presence would disrupt his plans for a flexible and fluid frontline similar to Jurgen Klopp’s great Liverpool side that won the Champions League in 2019.

In a video posted to social media, A coy Thomas Tuchel laughed before saying ‘I will not tell you’ when asked by a fan if Chelsea will sign Cristiano Ronaldo this summer.

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