Sokratis, Lukasz Piszczek and Dan-Axel Zagadou: Borussia Dortmund’s other Yellow Wall
Popular belief dictates that there's only one “Yellow Wall” in football, but it's not just SIGNAL IDUNA PARK’s South Stand that is gaining a reputation of its own...
The sight – and sound – of 30,000 Borussia Dortmund supporters massed in a single stand both inspires BVB and intimidates visiting teams in equal meaure, but this season, another presence in yellow and black is supporting the club’s rise up the table: a defensive line that, so far at least, cannot be breached.
Watch: Dortmund's famous Yellow Wall
Peter Bosz’s team have kept five clean sheets to rise to the top of the Bundesliga table after Matchday 5. More impressive, however, is the fact that they are the only club in Europe’s top five leagues yet to concede a domestic goal this term, following Wednesday's 3-0 win against Hamburg.
In the English Premier League, Manchester City and Manchester United have conceded two goals each after five games; in Italy's Serie A, Inter Milan have conceded twice in five; in French Ligue 1, Paris St-Germain’s defence has been breached three times in six games; and in Spain's La Liga, Sevilla have conceded one goal after five games.
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Long-serving defenders such as Sokratis and Lukasz Piszczek have again started the season strongly, but coach Peter Bosz will also be delighted to see how the defence has been augmented by his summer recruits.
Dan-Axel Zagadou has slotted in nicely at left-back, a particular boon considering the absence of captain Marcel Schmelzer to injury, while Ömer Toprak has done a similarly excellent job covering for Marc Bartra. And in midfield, Mahmoud Dahoud has looked at home straight away, forming an excellent partnership with Nuri Sahin.
Their integration into the side has helped extend Borussia's remarkable unbeaten run at home in the league to 40 games, and even had fans dreaming of possible silverware at the end of the season. Indeed, the last time BVB started a season with four clean sheets, they finished it as champions, back in 2001/02 (they conceded their first goals of the campaign in a 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich on Matchday 5).
The Black and Yellows’ next assignment is at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach, a team that has scored just once in their last three trips to the SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. Dortmund's defensive rearguard will doutless be tested on Saturday, but on the evidence of what we have seen so far, there's not much to suggest BVB’s run of clean sheets will end quite yet.
Bernie Reeves