Tuesday night’s dramatic DfB Pokal defeat at third-tier Saarbrücken was bad news for Bayern Munich. It was even worse news for Borussia Dortmund. Thomas Müller’s Instagram apology to the club’s fans – including for a failure to properly acknowledge those who travelled at the end – felt significant and so it proved.
This was no real Klassiker. It was no real contest. It was a one-sided rant of a reply, an unloading of frustration and anger, aided and abetted by a BVB who were not even a pale imitation of a challenger. “We made it too easy for them,” lamented their sporting director Sebastian Kehl. It was hard to argue. His team conceded two goals inside the opening eight-and-a-half minutes that should never have been possible. With barely two minutes on the clock Nico Schlotterbeck allowing himself to be given the slip by Dayot Upamecano – amusingly, straight after the grinning former had engaged the latter in chat as they waited for the corner to come in, presumably in an attempt to break his concentration – who headed in. Then the home side left themselves open to a counter-attack – to Bayern of all teams, a gobbler of such opportunities – at the end of which Leroy Sané laid a gift-wrapped chance on for the waiting Harry Kane. In double quick time Dortmund were two down and the evening had reached a premature denouement.
