Bundesliga 2021/22: Dortmund edge Leverkusen in seven goal thriller – tactical analysis

This past Saturday Gerardo Seoane’s Bayer Leverkusen welcomed Marco Rose’s Borussia Dortmund to The BayArena. It was a game where caution was thrown to the wind somewhat with the visitors coming from behind on three occasions before getting the winner to seal an important win early on in the race for the Meisterschale.

This tactical analysis will provide an analysis on the tactics used in this Bundesliga fixture.

Line-ups and formations

Leverkusen lined up in a 4-2-3-1 with Kerem Demirbay used in the double pivot as opposed to in the 10 role. He was joined by Robert Andrich with Florian Wirtz deployed in front of them, meaning Exequiel Palacios was left on the bench with Charles Aranguiz left out entirely due to them returning late from international duty. Otherwise, Leverkusen named an unchanged side from their previous 4-1 victory over Augsburg. 

Borussia Dortmund continued with their midfield diamond with late transfer window signing Marin Pongracic coming straight into the starting line-up alongside Manuel Akanji. This allowed Axel Witsel to be deployed as a pivot with Mahmoud Dahoud going into the left midfield position at the expense of Gio Reyna. Julian Brandt also came into the starting line-up, pushing Marco Reus up from the 10 position into a centre-forward spot, with Donyell Malen falling to the bench.

Dortmund’s attacking preferences 

With a midfield diamond, Dortmund naturally maintained a high level of central compactness in attacks. Both Thomas Meunier and Raphael Guerreiro pushed high and wide, with Witsel sitting deep to give protection against the defensive transition, allowing both full-backs to provide height and width. 

We can see this pattern in the pass map shown below, which also shows their average position in possession. There is a noticeably high level of compactness shown between Witse (28), Dahoud (8), and Brandt (19), with Bellingham playing wider (22). Reus would drop deeper than Erling Haaland, sitting just ahead of that cluster of midfielders.