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Given the emphatic win over Spanish giants Atletico Madrid with a scoreline of 4-0 in the UEFA Champions League and a +19 goal difference in Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund is hitting the headlines across the football world!
It wouldn't be wrong to say that Premier League and LaLiga dominates most of the debates among football circles. Dortmund's UCL record in the past is not overall satisfactory. Last season, the team wasn't good enough and struggled against quality opposition. They also finished 4th in Bundesliga table.
However, now they are ringing the bells and have caught the eyes of pundits with their impressive performances. Yet the team is not getting enough traction among the football fans outside Germany.
The narrative, Bundesliga means Bayern and Bayern means Bundesliga, doesn't fit anymore. Bayern, who have dominated the Bundesliga since 2013, are struggling to catch up the race this season.
Of late, all the major competing teams in the German top tier have struggled to challenge the dominance of the Bavarians.
This had become the common topic of discussion among various famous football experts. Some football fans called the League "a boring one with high predictability".
However, one team which has challenged this narrative is Borussia Dortmund and their loyal fans.
The Westfalenstadion has always been known for crazy buzz and never-ending drum beats and slogan chants.
This team is always known for giving proper chances to young blood and harbouring emerging talent in their ranks. Their latest recruits, Jadon Sacho and Achraf Hakimi are hitting headlines and are the prime examples of their successful developmental efforts. Christian Pulisic at 20 years old is already the best player for USA.
This year, the team under the management of Lucien Favre, recruited fringe players from Barcelona and Real Madrid and utilized them intelligently. The success of Palo Alcacer and Hakimi shows even an ordinary footballer can achieve big under right guidance and good team support.
Their Bundesliga standings this year clearly shows their level of difference against other competitors. Some experts are debating whether it's the bad patch for Bayern or whether Dortmund is actually proving too good for the other teams in Germany's premier club competition..
Their latest Champions League run shows their brilliance and quality of football they are playing right now.
Dortmund's forwards are performing better than the million dollar club trios like the ones at PSG (Cavani, Mbappe and Neymar) and the inform Liverpool (Mane, Firmino, Salah). One can have a debate with the difference of competitiveness level in Premier League and Bundesliga.
If we look into the past, this team has produced and nourished the finest footballers whom the fans are currently admiring all across the globe. Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundagon, Ousmane Dembele, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are some of them. Their leader Marco Reus is still one of the jewels of German football despite the World Cup debacle in Russia.
This year the team has the likes of Pulisic, teen sensation Sancho and Spanish sensation Paco Alcácer leading the lines along with the mainstay Reus. All of them have already debuted for their respective national teams and are on track to become the next superstars of world football.
Dortmund bought Axel Witsel from the Chinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjian and under Favre, the Belgian has revived his European career. Witsel has not only changed the complexion of the midfield but has also helped in maintaining the stability during the crunch times.
The team has already advanced to the next stage of the Champions League and is currently sitting at the top of the Bundesliga table with a huge goal difference of +19!
The season is not finished yet and football pundits have dividing opinions on the team's performance. For some, the team has yet to pass hard tests in the Champions League. While for others, they lack good a defence.
The history of Bundesliga Is mostly dominated by Schalke 04 during the infamous Nazi regime and then by the City of Munich post WW2.
Since its foundation in the year 1909, Dortmund has been able to stand up to the expectations and is regarded as one of the most successful clubs in German football history.
However, this team has seriously struggled to gain attraction outside Germany as the other English and Spanish football clubs got in the past. There are various reasons for this failure.
Will the chants of 'Heja BVB' and 'Echte Liebe' dominate the world or it's too early to predict the outcome of their efforts? We are still in the middle of the European football season and the team has a long way to go. Is this their time? Only time will tell and till then, all that the Dortmund fans can do is to pray for the best.
