MOTM (Not a) Poll: BVB Sink The Yellow Submarine at Home

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Ahhh. This one feels good. Dortmund actually won convincingly against a strong opponent. And no—Villareal are usually not what someone would consider an elite club among Europe’s top five leagues, but

they are still 3rd in La Liga this year, just three points behind 1st placed Real Madrid. Kovac rotated the squad a bit, and we saw the inclusion of Aaron Anselmino and Yan Couto—two players who haven’t had too much game time this season. We also saw Julian Brandt in place for the usually selected Maximilian Beier, so all in all a somewhat rotated squad. Villareal had some decent chances in the 1st half and was arguably the better team until Guirassy snapped up a ball after some post-corner ping pong and brought BVB 1-0 up at the break. The job was in no way finished though, but after Juan Foyth made his best goalkeeper impression and saved a shot on target with his arm in the 53rd minute, The Yellow Submarine slowly started sinking. Foyth was sent off, and Guirassy luckily converted the rebound after an initial penalty miss. Adeyemi added to the tally shortly after, Fabio Silva missed a pen and Svensson made his signature run at the back post in injury time to make it 4-0.

Here are my candidates for tonight’s MOTM:

Nico Schlotterbeck

You could arguably have chosen any of the three center backs for this, but I still think Schlotterbeck stood above the rest today. Today’s captain once again showed why the whole football world is looking his way. With some extremely important last ditch tackling, some crucial blocks and a strong duel rate, Schlotterbeck basically did everyone we’re used to seeing from him. The German defender also spread the play very well with multiple diagonal passes that allowed Couto and Svensson some space to run into—although they didn’t always use it to the best effect. When a defensive performance stands out in a 4-0 win, you know it’s good.

Serhou Guirassy

Guirassy didn’t have the wildest of games today, but he still managed two goals. I honestly debated not even putting him on here, because he actually missed the pen, but on the contrary, we would possibly be standing here with two less goals if it wasn’t for him. Hope he can bring this momentum into the next games, because BVB are very reliant on his output—also maybe more than any of us would like.

Karim Adeyemi

Karim had a somewhat slow start today, but he gradually grew into the game, and after an hour of play, there can be no doubts that he was BVB’s overall best offensive performer today. He had multiple dangerous runs into the box, he scored a goal and drew a clear cut penalty. I personally think Adeyemi has really added to his game this season. We’re seeing him being much more direct when it comes to running at goal, and his interplay with his teammates has also improved quite a bit. Today he was simply too much for Villareal to handle.

Daniel Svensson

This is one of those typical Daniel Svensson performances. Be extremely solid in defense, do nothing bad or nothing spectacular in offense and suddenly pop up at the back post and score a goal. When you think about where this guy comes from (FC Nordsjælland in the Danish Superliga), it’s quite remarkable how easy the transition has been for him. Today he absolutely stood his ground against one of the most in-form sides in Spanish football, and he even managed to do so in a very controlled and professional manner. What an absolute bargain he still proves to be.