Match date: 4 May 2013

The two Bundesliga teams play one another in the Champions League final later this month, but with that meeting and the Bundesliga title race already won by Bayern, the match was something of an audition for players on the brink of each sides starting XI and a showing of Bayern Munich’s depth.

Dortmund set out with their usual 4-2-3-1 with Weidenfeller, Subotic, Schmelzer, Blaszczykowski, Gündoğan  and Lewandowski, all usual starters, in the starting XI.

Bayern Munich started with a less familiar line up with only Neuer, Boateng, and Alaba, albiet in a different position, the usual starters. The line-up included both Mario Gomez and Claudio Pizarro which made Bayern look more like a 4-4-2 than their more usual 4-2-3-1.

Midfield Battle

Despite the games rather lack of overall urgency, the midfield battle was an interesting one. As mentioned above, Bayern abandoned their typical 4-2-3-1 in favour of a 4-4-2 with Pizarro and Gomez as the two strikers, with Pizarro dropping off on rare occasions.

Dortmund’s midfield consisted of Sebastian Kehl as the defensive midfielder, Nuri Sahin as the deep-lying playmaker, and, for the first 13 minutes, Gündoğan just slightly ahead of Sahin. The absence of Götze through the middle and the inclusion of Sahin allowed Gündoğan to get forward very freely, especially as Sahin and Kehl could occupy Tymoshchuk and Gustavo. During his few minutes on the pitch, Gündoğan got forward well and made a run into the box, that led to a shout for a penalty, that aggravated his injury a bit.

It was Nuri Sahin that gave Dortmund the midfield. He passed the ball around well as he stretched Bayern Munich’s defense both wide and deep. He completed and attempted the most passes in the match, including the most in the attacking third, and though he only created one chance His contribution was not limited to when Dortmund had the ball though as he completed the most tackles in the match as well, being successful in all 8 attempts.

This was the form that Sahin showed in his first stint at Dortmund, form that earned him a move to Real Madrid and what Liverpool hoped to get when they took him on loan for the first few months of the season. His loan back to Dortmund has seen him at his best again as he is playing in a position that he is a bit more used to. His performance today could allow Klopp to play him and Gündoğan together in front of a holding player if Götze fails to be fit for the final.

Dortmund’s Defense

Dortmund usually press very well and high up the pitch with Reus and Götze rich with the energy in order to do so behind Lewandowski. Without those two, and with an early injury to Gündoğan  Dortmund just seemed to lack the intensity and cohesiveness that is key to their success in pressing.

With that though, Dortmund’s defense were solid and worked hard where Bayern put the ball, which was mostly in the wide areas. Overall, Dortmund won 27 of their 33 attempted tackles, with only two of them being attempted in the centre of the middle third of the field, and a large majority being won on the flanks.

With Bayern trying to slowly build up their attacks, it forced Dortmund to sit a bit deeper and trying to break up play in their half of the field rather than pressing. The image above shows Dortmund’s tackles as well as their interceptions, with all but 4 of their 18 occurring in their defensive half.

Bayern Attack on the Right

Rafinha is a very unlucky player at Bayern Munich as he has some quality about him, but he happens to play in the same position as Lahm. The same exact thing could be said about Xherdan Shaqiri, who has Robben in front of him.

They combined very well together, exchanging 33 passes between them, the most of any two players, as Bayern looked to get down the right side of their attack. Both Tymoshchuk and Gustavo both looked for Rafinha more so than Contento, who was on the left.

It worked well for Bayern as Rafinha provided Gomez with the cross that saw him head home the equalizer. Shaqiri, however, was the more impressive of the two as he created two chances and was successful in all six of his take-ons.

Conclusion

The match may have been between the two finalists of the Champions League, but it was far from what should be expected in the final. Both teams looked out of rhythm, mostly due to the changes in the starting XIs and the lack of significance in working to get a result.

Rafinha was sent off in the 64th minute, which sparked a confrontation between Jurgen Klopp and Rafinha and then Klopp and Bayern’s Matthias Sammer, but apart from causing more tension in the build up to the final, it didn’t have much of an influence on the game.

Sahin and Shaqiri made claims for spots in the Champions League final starting sides, but with Robben ahead of him, Shaqiri will more than likely remain on the bench while Sahin could get into the side depending on the fitness of Mario Götze.