DÜSSELFORF, Germany (AP) — This could finally be the year that Borussia Dortmund dethrone Bayern Munich.
On several occasions during Bayern’s run of 10 consecutive German league titles, Dortmund failed to capitalize when Bayern dropped points.
That changed on Saturday with Dortmund’s 4-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt to jump to the top of the Bundesliga after Bayern’s 3-1 loss to Mainz.
Jude Bellingham scored Dortmund’s opening goal, when the versatile midfielder acted as a striker, receiving the ball on the edge of the box and firing past Kevin Trapp.
“To be honest, it would mean everything. It would mean the world,” Bellingham said in television comments on Saturday about the possibility of them becoming Bundesliga champions. “But it would be a great thing. There is nothing I would like more than to win the league with the club after everything it has given me”.
At 19, Bellingham is about to finish his third campaign with Dortmund and there is speculation that there is interest from Europe’s biggest clubs. During his stay in Germany he has started for England in the World Cup and is Dortmund’s leader on the pitch.
The team’s strategy of acquiring talented youngsters and selling them at a profit has led to fans enjoying performances like the likes of Bellingham, Erling Haaland and Ousmane Dembélé in recent years, but that very strategy means they are in a constant cycle of reconstruction against a Bayern with a stable base.
But you could also say that the constant fragility of Dortmund’s defense is due to the focus on their young attackers in recent years, especially at important moments. It looked as if Dortmund would give up another chance with a 4-2 loss to Bayern on April 1 and again on April 15 by allowing Stuttgart to equalize.
For now the usual order of things has been reversed. Dortmund could slip from time to time, but Bayern have fallen low. Since the surprise appointment last month of Thomas Tuchel to replace Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern have won two, drawn three and lost three. Nagelsmann’s last game in charge was his third straight loss after 37 games on the season.