The first sign of mentally recovering for Liepsig following the 7-0 humiliation at the Etihad, convincingly beating Dortmund 2-0 for the Cup QF last night, with Olmo on the pitch, used for 70 minutes (before being subbed by Forsberg). They should have been out of sight already from the first half, Gods of football kept Dortmund alive and Liepsig could have been punished in injury time, finally Orban killing the game in an empty net, relieving the whole team and its fans...
Following the CL tie, they had lost vs Bochum and Mainz respectively, second one at home, both defeats hurt deaply. Fifth on the table as we speak, they will chase Union Berlin and Freiburg for a CL spot (not that I have a problem with these clubs, no problen at all whatsoever), and will meet with Eintracht, Freiburg and Stuttgart (already in the relegation zone) in the Cup SF, Freiburg having knocked out Bayern in Munich.
As for Dortmund, once again they will bottle it when it matters, having conceded 4 goals vs Bayern a few days ago. Rose did a good job at Gladbach but was bound to fail (or "fail") at Dortmund, for reasons beyond his control. You need to do your homework for one, and you need to be very strong in the mental aspect before deciding to work there, because primarily you will have to deal with the club's culture. It's a long story, I've talked about it in the past, won't get into it again in this post. This situation is going on for years, Dortmund have effectively become Bayern's woman and they themselves are the only ones to blame for this outcome. Perhaps the only thing that matters for them is undermining Liepsig, the new "player", a club facing a lot of hatred in Germany...
Well not from me, on the contrary like Pep I admire what they have built and the ideas behind their vision. Nagelsmann delivered a fantastic job there, hopefully they will keep progressing under Rose. On a side note, do me a favour and go watch the guy's post match interview following the 7-0. After all the Tuchels, the Klopps, the Simeones etc we've witnessed out there, Marco Rose behaved like a true gentleman, in a very difficult moment for him personally and his team. Never stopped praising City and his colleague, and never took the bait in the silly line of questions he faced regarding the penalty. Respect...
Everything I've seen so far suggests he's not at Nagelsmann's level, hopefully he will prove wrong. But he is a good manager anyway, no doubt about it, so good luck to him and his team. And congratulations to Berlin and Freiburg (who seem to have recovered following a bad start after the winter break), both close to achieving something very important, a success with historical significance for these clubs. As for Dortmund? I'm saying it right here, if they beat Munich in the title race I will be the first to applaud them. Can they?
