It will be tight for coach Nuri Sahin

Perhaps it seems strange at first glance when you realize that it was the game of two surprise teams, this match between Borussia Dortmund and the Italian club Bologna, on the penultimate day of the preliminary round of the Champions League. Bologna, a traditional address with a wonderful stadium that has all the qualities of a monument, played for the first time in half a century in the highest European league, which was then called the European Cup.

Only Guirassy scores for BVB

Dortmund maintained ninth place before kick-off, which is surprising considering the real crisis that BVB is currently having to overcome. The team had recently lost three times, at the weekend against Eintracht Frankfurt with 0-2. The rehabilitation didn’t work this time either: Dortmund continued the series of defeats – BVB lost to Bologna 1-2.

As is not uncommon this season, it was an avoidable defeat. BVB led through a goal from Serhou Guirassy, ​​who converted a penalty, and was quite capable of maintaining this lead for a long time. But they gave up this lead within a few seconds just before the end of the game. It’s a dilemma. Although it is not impossible that BVB will move straight into the next round with a win on the next matchday, it is becoming increasingly questionable whether this would happen under coach Nuri Sahin.

Lars Ricken, Dortmund’s managing director for professional operations, spoke on the Amazon microphone after the game. The deliberately diplomatic sound gives him every opportunity. His relationship with Sahin is trusting and good, and he stands by his statements that the coach would enjoy his support. But it also has to be measured by results: “I won’t make a decision based on emotion or from the hip. We’re flying home tomorrow and we’ll all sit down together. We all want the best for BVB and will discuss what is best for BVB.”

The coach lacks charisma

It could be quite a long session. Because the situation is messy, and perhaps those responsible are realizing that just separating from Sahin won’t solve the problems. The young coach, who once won one of two championships with BVB in 2011 under the cult-revered coach Jürgen Klopp, may lack charisma. On the field, however, BVB has a few well-known problems: they don’t always play with the necessary rigor, and sometimes there is a lack of presence of mind.

It’s clear again and again that the team could play football well. But it rarely goes beyond what is necessary to meet the demands of a top team. On the other hand, some Dortmund players seem too complacent: the nonchalance with which Guirassy took his penalty was almost arrogant. He was very lucky that Bologna’s goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski couldn’t block his attempt.

It’s not the coach’s fault, as so-called leading players have recently emphasized (although not everyone is convinced by him). Which in itself is a bad sign. Usually the coach puts himself in front of his team, not the players in front of him. Sahin is unlikely to have any arguments left. Tenth place in the Bundesliga after 18 rounds and 20 points behind Bayern is a devastating result, especially when you consider that only FC Bayern Munich’s squad is more expensive than Dortmund’s, although the difference is significant.

However, the gap to fourth place in the table, which entitles you to participate directly in the Champions League, is getting larger and larger. In view of the high financial loss that threatens to occur if Dortmund do not qualify, things are still surprisingly quiet at BVB. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” oracles: “Whether they have all correctly recognized in Dortmund what is at stake if fourth place is not enough – that can be doubted.”

Nuri Sahin can’t help put the squad together, it’s the work of the sporting leadership, and Dortmund’s sports director is Sebastian Kehl. His position was considered anything but secure for months, but his contract, which would have expired, has now been extended.

But Kehl and Lars Ricken are not the only ones who have a say in sporting matters. Hans-Joachim Watzke, Dortmund’s managing director, reserves the last word. Watzke is advised by Matthias Sammer, who, in a strangely uninvolved manner, discussed BVB’s plight as a TV expert after the match. As a strategist, he was once Europe’s Footballer of the Year; He was a Champions League winner with BVB and champions in 2002 as a coach.

Sammer, although without a fixed assignment in the hierarchy, is Watzke’s most knowledgeable whisperer, who in turn seems to be following a sentimental idea: important positions in the club should be filled by former members – preferably also by returnees, such as chief scout Sven Mislintat, who is once fell out with Thomas Tuchel in Dortmund.

No hardship like Bayern Munich

Such a wish is entirely understandable. Knowing that the club’s legends are in responsible positions creates a level of identification that few other clubs have. FC Bayern is undoubtedly one of them, and the Munich team also likes to fill key positions with former professionals.

There is only one important difference between the Dortmund management team: the circle of those who make decisions for Bayern is considerably smaller, and a congestion like the one in Dortmund over several weeks would be difficult to imagine in Munich. Decisions are made quickly, and in such moments it becomes clear that the Dortmunders do not have the toughness that the Munich team sometimes has, which sometimes reminds of brutality.

At first glance this may seem harsh. But ultimately this is part of the habitus of a top club. A coach like Sahin, who is unable to give the team any noticeable impulse, would have received the papers in Munich long ago. A contract extension like the one with Kehl is also difficult to imagine, considering how Bayern dealt with their CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic when they considered the limit to be full.

Even before the championship won at the last minute could be celebrated in 2023, the expulsion of the duo, who had once made great contributions to Bayern on the football field, was announced. This fate will soon also blossom for Sahin. But it is questionable whether this would herald a change for the better: it would be the ninth coaching change within ten years.