Barcelona, beware! Agents of chaos Borussia Dortmund out to cause a Champions League upset despite Bundesliga nightmare

Dortmund are known for being able to beat anyone on their day, but also being susceptible to inexplicable capitulations against weaker teams, and they have really leaned into that stereotype this season. Die Schwarzgelben never won consecutive Bundesliga games during Sahin's ill-fated six months in charge, oscillating between home victories and away defeats in every gameweek between mid-September and late November.

Indeed, in stark contrast to their home results at Signal Iduna Park where they are roared on by the famed 'Yellow Wall', their results on the road became a serious problem, as it took them until the final game of 2024 to register an away win - a record akin to the league's relegation candidates.

When they did play well domestically, BVB were often unable to maintain their performance levels for 90 minutes, resulting in them regularly dropping points from winning positions - including against Bayern Munich in November's Klassiker, as Jamal Musiala netted a late equaliser. Their two subsequent games - draws with Borussia Monchengladbach and Hoffenheim - followed a very similar pattern.

The Champions League league phase offered a reprieve as Sahin's side recorded thumping victories over the likes of Celtic and Club Brugge, although they were thrashed 5-2 themselves by Real Madrid having led 2-0 in the Santiago Bernabeu. In the DFB-Pokal, their cup hopes were prematurely ended by Wolfsburg in the second round.

Having finished fifth in the league last season, squeezing into the Champions League by virtue of the UEFA coefficient, Dortmund spent around €76 million (£65m/$83m) on a number of players to strengthen their ranks in the summer, bringing in the likes of Serhou Guirassy, Maximilian Beier, Pascal Gross and Waldemar Anton. However, only 25-goal Guirassy would have an instant impact under Sahin.

Highly-rated young attacker Beier struggled as he was deployed out of position on the wing in the first half of the campaign, while Gross has not been the creative force he was with Brighton in the Premier League, and Anton - who has had his injury problems - has formed part of an alarmingly leaky defence. By the time Sahin was sacked in January, in fact, Dortmund had conceded more goals in their 18 games than at the same stage in any of the previous 17 seasons.

Meanwhile, Manchester City loanee Yan Couto has failed to impress and lost his place entirely under the ex-manager, and winter-window arrival Carney Chukwuemeka has continued to struggle with the kind of injuries that plagued him at Chelsea.

Another defining facet of Dortmund's modern identity is cut-and-thrust football where defensive solidarity is often secondary to attacking flair, but while they continued to ship goals, they lost their way in an attacking sense under former Turkey international Sahin.

Before his departure, the Black and Yellow had scored significantly fewer goals than in recent seasons. Although new signing Guirassy has impressed with 15 league strikes, their second-highest scorer, the highly-rated Jamie Gittens, is lagging well behind with eight. Beyond them, Beier has seven and Karim Adeyemi, who missed eight games with a muscle injury, just four.

A drop-off in Gittens' form since January and Adeyemi's fitness issues haven't helped matters, but the English winger netted last time out against Freiburg and Beier has hit a rich vein of form too, contributing far more since Kovac's arrival.

Things really took a turn for the worst for Sahin at the turn of the year, as underwhelming results at the end of 2024 became dire ones at the beginning of 2025 as Dortmund made a terrible restart after the winter break.

For the first time in seven years, Die Schwarzgelben lost three Bundesliga games in a row, including being blown away early on by reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen and a 4-2 humiliation at the hands of relegation-battling Holstein Kiel, where BVB were 3-0 down until the 71st minute. Another league defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt and a subsequent midweek Champions League loss at Bologna would spell the end of Sahin's brief, regrettable spell.

The former fan favourite was sacked the day after the game in Italy and would depart with the worst Bundesliga points-per-game record of any Dortmund manager since 2008 (1.4), having amassed the club's lowest total after 18 games in a decade.

"Very often BVB has shown two faces this season," SPOX journalist Christian Guinin tells GOAL."While they have often achieved good results in the Champions League, they have put in some weak performances in the Bundesliga and lost a lot of points as a result. Many key players such as Julian Brandt, Adeyemi and Emre Can have not performed as well as expected. In addition, new signings such as Beier, Anton and Gross have not developed as expected.

"BVB have not played well enough, especially defensively, to compete at the top of the league. Although they would have liked to continue with Sahin, as he knows the club from his time as a player, and would have liked to give him more time, the sporting situation was too bad. There was also often no real playing style to be seen under Sahin."

Dortmund turned to familiar Bundesliga face and disciplinarian Kovac in their hour of need, and although it was a slow burn, he has overseen a marked improvement since taking the reins at Signal Iduna Park at the end of January.

Granted, there have still been some disappointing results, including losses to Augsburg and Bochum, but the Black and Yellow seem to have overcome their away-day hoodoo and have purred in convincing victories over Union Berlin and Freiburg. Their league position suddenly looks much healthier, too, as they now sit just five points behind Mainz in fourth despite being eighth in the table.

"Initially, Kovac didn't get the results he had hoped for either," Guinin says. "Since then, however, things have improved considerably, even against stronger teams. Kovac has managed to make BVB better defensively by relying on a back three of Nico Schlotterbeck, Anton and Can. In addition, Kovac has gone back to the very basics of football: fight, intensity, passion, discipline and running.

"His players are now implementing this much better, which is why the results are also better now. The last two games against Mainz and Freiburg in particular were very convincing. Offensively, he now also relies on a two-man attack, which suits Beier much better - he contributed two goals and two assists against Mainz and Freiburg."

Given how badly the first half of their season went, it is quite incredible that there is a quiet confidence around the club as a daunting Champions League quarter-final against Hansi Flick's Barcelona looms. After all, Dortmund have previous when it comes to reaching the final of the competition against the odds.

"Due to the recent results, the mood in Dortmund and Germany in general is surprisingly optimistic ahead of the match against Barca," Guinin says. "Some experts even believe BVB can win and progress to the next round."

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann is among them, saying after the 4-1 victory over Freiburg: "They've warmed up today and will get Barcelona out of the way. They will progress."

Guinin admits he can understand the optimism: "In terms of sheer quality, BVB have the resources to beat Barcelona in two games. If Dortmund manage to shut down Barca's attack and stand firm defensively, they have a chance. Especially offensively, BVB has players like Guirassy, Adeyemi, Beier and Jamie Gittens who can hurt them. As Barcelona's defence is vulnerable itself, Dortmund can do a lot of damage with quick and precise counter-attacks."

However chaotic Dortmund might be, they are always a dangerous opponent - a point they proved in the narrow 3-2 defeat to Barca in the league phase. They might have had their problems this season, but never rule the German giants out.