The frustration over the lost chance of winning the championship still runs deep. And yet BVB wants to draw new strength from the drama. A good start to the season could help banish the evil spirits.
Defiance or trauma? Borussia Dortmund is taking another run at the championship title after the sorrowful football drama in last season’s final. Sebastian Kehl is in good spirits ahead of Saturday’s (6.30pm/Sky) Bundesliga kick-off against 1 FC Köln that the runners-up will bounce back quickly regardless of the knockout in May. “There are many examples that show that a dramatic final gives rise to new strength, a new spirit, a sense of community and the greed to absolutely want to do better next time,” the BVB sports director told Deutsche Presse-Agentur in an interview. Combative, he added: “If we play at our limit, we are capable of anything.”
The 2-2 draw against Mainz, which saw coach Edin Terzic’s team squander their lead in the standings and help FC Bayern to their eleventh title in a row, also had a positive side effect in Kehl’s opinion – despite all the frustration: “A bond was formed between the team and the fans in May 2023 that I feel is very, very special at the moment. That’s another reason why I see the chance to make something happen together this year.” Like Kehl, Terzic is hoping for an inspiring sense of achievement to dispel the traumatic experiences right at the start of the season: “We want to be there from the beginning and show where the journey can go.”
At the same time, the rebuilding of the squad is still not complete. Compared to the arguably biggest title rivals from Munich, Leipzig and Leverkusen, BVB has so far held back on acquisitions. Despite the commitments of Ramy Bensebaini (Mönchengladbach), Felix Nmecha (Wolfsburg) and Marcel Sabitzer (Munich), there have been headlines about an allegedly sluggish purchasing policy. Kehl believes this criticism is unfounded and pointed to the team’s clout in recent months: “We have scored 46 points in this calendar year, we have scored the most goals of any club in the top 5 leagues in Europe. And we have – following a clear analysis – signed three international players. If you see that as dragging, then that’s the way it is.”
The fact that Bayern invested more than 150 million euros with the purchases of goal scorer Harry Kane and defender Kim Min-jae alone has not tempted BVB into actionism so far. “We have not felt any pressure because of this. We don’t let ourselves be driven by outside forces either,” commented Kehl. Nevertheless, the Dortmund team will continue to sift through the market until the end of the transfer period on 1 September – reportedly looking for a full-back, a centre-back and a central attacker as a backup for Sébastien Haller.
According to the sporting director, however, there will be no more big-name transfers for several positions: “Everything at once won’t work anyway. We already communicated transparently in the first week of June that we could invest 60 to 65 per cent of Jude Bellingham’s transfer fee back into the squad. So the numbers are on the table for everyone to see.” Alluding to Borussia’s alleged interest in Chelsea FC goalscorer Romelu Lukaku, he added: “What all that says about a transfer rumour, you can fathom pretty easily with a calculator.”
According to Kehl, painful departures like that of Bellingham for 103 million euros plus possible bonuses to Real Madrid are now part of Dortmund’s DNA: “There can also be an opportunity in that. After Erling Haaland’s departure last summer, we were asked the same question. And how many goals did we score in 2023? More than anyone else, but we have spread the responsibility over several shoulders: You see: it works.”
Kehl is longing for a second chance next season to forget what happened: “We would like to keep the race open as long as possible – in the best case with a better ending for us than in May. I am convinced: If we were in such a situation again, we would win this final. “