DFB Pokal 2015: Bayern vs Dortmund

At the beginning of the past decade, Bayern and Dortmund revived their rivalry and took it to new highs. Mainly, this was caused by Dortmund’s rise under Jürgen Klopp, who build a team that beat Bayern five times in a row in 2011 and 2012. While the UEFA Champions League final of 2013 surely marks the highpoint of the rivalry (with Bayern coming out on top), this DFB Pokal semi-final clash from 2015 stands out as it is Klopp’s final clash against Bayern as Dortmund coach. Advancing to the final after winning the penalty shootout, in the Allianz Arena against Pep Guardiola’s Bayern, surely will be remembered as a truly beautiful end to the Klopp era in Dortmund.

In this tactical analysis, we will show how Klopp managed to neutralise Guardiola’s tactics and advance to the final.

Line-Ups

As can be seen in the image above, the official line-up given to us was a 4-3-3 formation by Bayern. However, as we will show later on, Guardiola’s team lined-up differently in what resembled a 3-5-2. From Bayern’s point of view, the injuries of Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben and Xherdan Shaqiri were problematic and prevented Bayern from utilising their great wing game. Robben was even substituted in for Thiago Alcántara in the 68th minute of the game, coming back from an injury, but after only 15 minutes, he had to be replaced by Mario Götze, as he was not ready for this game from a health standpoint.

Another interesting move by Guardiola is the positioning of Philipp Lahm, who is known for being of the best fullbacks of his time. Pep put him into the midfield next to Xabi Alonso and Thiago to dominate the midfield.