This midweek, the Premier League has seen a number of high-profile match-ups take place. For example, Aston Villa's 1-0 victory over Manchester City, and Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Chelsea, all played wonderful scenes and made fans very enjoyable. The Premier League is known for its intensity and intensity, and this midweek game epitomizes that.
Relatively speaking, the German Cup in the middle of this week is not so lively. The German Cup itself is not a very important competition, and a team like Bayern has long been out, so it is even more lacking. However, among these German Cup matchups, there is one game that is still quite interesting, and at the same time, it can be regarded as a strong confrontation in German football.
Stuttgart v Borussia Dortmund.
Stuttgart have been in a heroic season and have swept away the slump of the past few seasons. Currently, they sit third in the Bundesliga, behind Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich. And just in previous seasons, they often fought for relegation. It can be said that this season's Stuttgart has given us a vague glimpse of the Lahm era, after all, historically, they should have been a strong team in the Bundesliga.
Needless to say, Dortmund is second only to Bayern in the Bundesliga. However, specifically this season, Dortmund's performance in the Bundesliga seems to be less eye-catching than Stuttgart. And this German Cup contest reflects this. Stuttgart beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. And Dortmund said goodbye to the German Cup.
However, there is a subtle feeling that it is not so much that Dortmund lost the German Cup, but that they have more or less strategically abandoned this front. Indeed, with Stuttgart's form and strength this season, Dortmund may not be able to achieve good results even if they go all out. But is it really necessary for Borussia Dortmund to stumble in the German Cup?
Let's focus on the Champions League. The only group of death in the Champions League this season is Group F, with Grand Paris, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, and Newcastle United relatively evenly balanced, and anyone who advances is likely to advance. But objectively speaking, among the four teams, Dortmund's strength may be the weakest. Especially this season, they lost their star Bellingham, and Haaland went to Manchester before, it can be said that Dortmund has weakened a lot compared to two years ago. So in the eyes of many, although this group is the group of death, Dortmund may be the team most likely to be at the bottom.
But so far in the game, the situation in this group has surprised many people. Borussia Dortmund not only did not finish at the bottom, but also topped the table and had already qualified early, and all that remained was to prevent Paris from stealing the top spot in the group. At the same time, Dortmund are also the only team to advance from the Group of Death after five rounds. Dortmund's composure in the group of death was unexpected by many. So, what's the mystery behind this?
Maybe it's not complicated. Through this 2-0 German Cup match, we can probably get a glimpse. Let's put it this way, with Dortmund's current strength, it is indeed difficult for them to cope with the three-front battle, and if they insist on spreading the front, although it will not be as dismal as the Union of Berlin, at least it will not have too good results. In fact, the reason why Dortmund can perform so easily in the Champions League is not only really good, but also largely related to their relative laxity on several other fronts. For example, like the German national derby, Dortmund lost 0:4 to Bayern at home, it stands to reason that it won't be, right?Moreover, at the beginning of the season, Dortmund were still firmly in the first group of the Bundesliga, but now, they have been overtaken by RB Leipzig and dropped to fifth.
Needless to say, after easily passing the first two rounds that were not too difficult, and away from Stuttgart, Dortmund actually really has no energy left to die, after all, the opponent has no European competition this season, and can concentrate on domestic competitions.
Of course, if you want to say that Dortmund is completely deliberately abandoning the German Cup, they don't have the courage and the need to do that. But subconsciously, Dortmund do want to focus more on the competition that is most likely to produce results at the moment. Looking at it now, the Champions League is naturally this competition. Although Dortmund are not strong enough to win the title, who dares to say what will happen after reaching the knockout rounds?Besides, it's definitely not a bad thing to go as far as you can in the Champions League.
Now it's up to Borussia Dortmund to perform. This season, Dortmund is the most noteworthy in the Champions League.