Trebor Mahtal ticked off the ninth leg of his Alphabet Challenge as he led Juventus to its first Serie A title for 25 years in 2045. The Zambian now went in search of his 12th club and immediately eyed up a few interesting roles.
Upon resigning, Borussia Dortmund and Valencia were the most eye-catching vacancies. Dortmund made the first move to offer an interview, swiftly asked Mahtal for his staff changes and made him an offer before anyone else had a chance. So, on 20 June 2045, Mahtal was heading back to Germany.
Who Are Borussia Dortmund?
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund is a professional sports club in the city of Dortmund in North Rhine-Westphalia, a region in the west of Germany. The club was founded in December 1909 by 18 local footballers who were unhappy with the Catholic church-sponsored Trinity Youth and adopted the prefix Borussia based on the name of a nearby brewery. The club initially played in blue and white stripes but adopted its famous yellow and black kits in 1913, which led to the nickname Die Schwarzgelben. Dortmund won its first Bundesliga title in 1956 and has gone on to win 15 in total, seven of which have been in this save. It also won the Champions League back in 1997 and has 9 DFB-Pokal successes, four of which were in this save.
The club still plays at the impressive 81,365-capacity Signal Iduna Park, the biggest stadium in Germany that’s supported by a perfect infrastructure. Mahtal walks into a huge club that has £114m in the bank, a £164m transfer kitty and a £4.5m weekly wage budget. However, Dortmund just finished 6th in Bundesliga despite being 2nd favourites for the title. They finished a huge 28 points behind Bayern but won the title the previous three seasons and four times in the last eight years. Mahtal addressed that by moving on some old underperformers, bringing in a massive £202m for 17 players and slashing around £1m off the wage bill.
Mahtal inherited a whole host of elite players led by 101-time capped club captain and arguably the best centre back in the world Nils Wurm and winger Timo Hug. They also had a strong supporting cast of 6ft 6in holding midfielder Oliver Rahn, striker Paolo Romagnoli and Mahtal’s former Frankfurt striker Filippo Muratore, who was been bizarrely loaned out to Bayern last season, winger Michel Rzatkowski, full backs Lasse Zetterer and Elias Hummel, promising midfielder Bernard Raschl and goalkeeper Landry Kouadio.
The huge sales gave Mahtal a massive £300m to work with. He made his former West Ham midfielder Jeppe Holm Andersen his top target and got the deal done for up to £90m. Another familiar face arrived as former Roma striker Giacomo Cobianchi made the move for £15m. They were joined by winger Enzo Clerc for £59m from Monaco, centre back Theo van den Dungen for £45m from Milan, promising midfielder Silva for £16m from Mineiro and goalkeeper Renzo Caputo for £7.5m from Independiente. And, despite spending £200m, he still had £132m in the transfer budget!
Mahtal was in two minds about the right approach for the players available, whether to go 4-3-3 or 4-2-4. And he eventually settled on something in between the two with Holm Andersen in behind Romagnoli, Muratore playing from the right and Hug or Clerc deeper on the left. While Zetterer is training to play at left back.
Getting Started At Dortmund
Dortmund are second favourites to win Bundesliga with title odds of 2/1 behind Bayern at 7/5. Mahtal’s former club Frankfurt are 12/1 to win their first title since he departed, followed by Leizpig (15/1) and Stuttgart (18/1). But Dortmund have seven players in the media dream 11.
Mahtal’s first game back in Germany for eight years was a trip to newly promoted 1860 Munchen. A pretty lax defensive effort was rescued by debutant laying on goals for Romagnoli and Andersen either side of scoring a long-range effort to inspire a 3-2 win. A much more convincing performance followed on Mahtal’s home debut as Holm Andersen ran the show with a goal and an assist in a 3-0 win over Koln, then scored the opener in a comfortable 3-1 win over Leipzig. That strong start continued, including Romagnoli’s hat trick and a Muratore brace leading a 6-0 hammering of Mainz, while Bayern were lingering down in 10th ahead of Mahtal’s first taste of Der Klassiker. Romagnoli’s fine start continued as he headed the opener on 8 minutes and Bayern were down to 10 men for a shocking challenge on half an hour. Muratore headed a second against the team he was on loan at last season and Holm Andersen swept in a third just after halftime, then made it ten a side before Bayern got another straight red! But Dortmund settled for a huge 3-0 win at their rivals.
The winning start ended with a 0-0 at fellow fast-starters Gladbach. But Dortmund responded by putting five past Augsburg, which saw them set a new Bundesliga record of seven successive clean sheets that ended with a 1-1 at Mahtal’s former club Frankfurt. And the unbeaten start finally ended as an exhausted team lost 3-0 at Stuttgart in the final game of 2045. But Dortmund took a 4-point lead over Gladbach and 7-point advantage over Bayern into the winter break.
Straightforward Cup Progression
The positive of Dortmund’s poor previous season was that they were among the favourites to win the Europa League. They got an easy set of group fixtures so Mahtal heavily rotated the side, and they squeezed through in 6th with five wins and three draws. Mahtal celebrated 900 games in football management with a 3-2 win at home to Real Betis, which sent them through 6-4 on aggregate. They eased past Sunderland in the quarters and beat Lens 3-0 on aggregate to reach the final. Dortmund also cruised through the DFB-Pokal to face Nurnberg in the semis. Mahtal fully rotated and young winger Chris Benally nicked a 1-0 win to tee up a Der Klassiker final.
Impressive Defence Powers Bundesliga Push
Mahtal’s rebuild continued in January 2046 as he sold two more backup players for £66m – taking his sales to £268m in six months! He also turned down a £120m bid for Rahn from Man United and derisory Bayern bids for Muratore and Romagnoli, who he absolutely not be selling to Bayern. He strengthened a threadbare defence with his former Frankfurt centre back Soares, now 28, for his £78m release clause and signed promising midfielder Karel Van der Heijden for £23.5m from Ajax.
Dortmund began 2046 with Hug creating both goals in a solid 2-0 win at home to Werder Bremen before early Holm Anderson and Raschl goals earned the same result at Leipzig. The impressive defensive strength continued as they racked up seven successive clean sheets while the impressive Hug racked up ten assists in six games, including a hat-trick and two assists in a 7-0 thrashing of Mainz. They then entertained Bayern, who’d clambered back up to second, and led through Muratore’s penalty. Bayern equalised just after halftime, but Wurm swiftly nodded his side back in front and they held on for a 2-1 victory that opened up a 10-point lead.
Dortmund slipped to a surprise 2-1 defeat at Augsburg then a rotated team lost 1-0 at home to Mahtal’s former team Frankfurt. While Bayern went on a wild 10-game winning streak to close the gap to 5 points with five games remaining, and Dortmund had a fairly tricky run-in.
Game 1 – Leverkusen (6th, away): The run-in began with a potentially tricky away day, but Dortmund dominated by 19 shots to 4 and two more Hug assists inspired a 3-1 win. Bayern won 3-0 at Hertha to keep the gap at 5 points.
Game 2 – Schalke (10th, home): Next up was a Rhein Derby clash and Muratore’s near-post flick from Hug’s cross earned a 1-0 win. Bayern won 3-0 again.
Game 3 – Hamburg (18th, away): Dortmund travelled to already-relegated Hamburg the day after Bayern secured a 13th successive win at Frankfurt. A semi-rotated side eased to a 1-0 win thanks to van den Dungen powering home a header from a corner.
Game 4 – Stuttgart (3rd, home): Dortmund’s first shot at winning the title came at home to Stuttgart, where a point would effectively be enough. They got a flyer as Hug floated a cross to the backpost for Muratore to power home a header after 95 seconds. But a tired side struggled to get going and conceded from a corner and a dull 1-1 was just about enough to take it to the final day as Bayern won yet again.
Game 5 – Werder Bremen (7th, away): Anything other than a 15-goal swing would be enough for Dortmund to secure the title on the final day. Holm Andersen fired them in front with a great move from a throw-in and wrapped it up as he raced onto Muratore’s throughball. Bayern drew 1-1 on the final day at Schalke anyway.
Borussia Dortmund won Bundesliga!
Dortmund won the title with 83 points after 26 wins, 5 draws and 3 defeats, scoring 79 and conceding just 16 – proving the value of a rock-solid defence. Hug was by far the best player in the league with new Bundesliga records of 20 assists, a 7.76 average rating and 11 MOTM awards. And Muratore was the 4th-top scorer with 17 goals, one more than Romagnoli and Holm Andersen.
Two Cup Finals In Four Days
Dortmund finished the season with two tricky-looking finals, facing Spurs in the Europa League, then Bayern in DFB-Pokal. First up, they travelled to Turkey to take on Tottenham. Dortmund made a great start with Holm Andersen having a chance well saved before his delicious volley deflected in and was harshly ruled as an own goal. Four minutes later, Muratore beat four men before sliding Romagnoli in to double the lead. And the striker secured victory as he latched onto Hug’s wonderful lofted pass to chip the oncoming keeper and completed his hat trick from another brilliant Hug pass on 73 minutes.
Borussia Dortmund won their first Europa League to complete a double!
There was no time for celebrations as four days later, Dortmund returned to face Bayern at Olympiastadion Berlin. The team was exhausted despite a day of rest, and it showed as they conceded Bayern’s first shot after 8 minutes before Holm Andersen wasted two good chances. Mahtal made a mass of changes and it worked as winger Michel Rzatkowski headed a deserved equaliser on 81 minutes. Two exhausted teams played out a poor extra time and it went to penalties. Both teams scored their first 9 penalties, including Kouadio scoring one, before Soares, who was always a concern considering he was taking a penalty after his goalkeeper, missed and Bayern secured the cup.
Celebrating A Season Of Success In Dortmund
Mahtal had inherited an incredible team packed with elite talent in Dortmund, so it was no surprise they went on to a successful campaign. Holm Andersen and Muratore led the way with 25 goals apiece followed by Romagnoli with 23. But the star of the season was undoubtedly Hug, who racked up 29 assists with 15 goals in 49 games.
But, with a slightly heavy heart, Mahtal knew his time at Dortmund was done as he’d ticked B off his Alphabet Challenge and, after just one year back in Gemany, it was time to move on again. He left Dortmund after 57 games, of which he won 43, drew 8 and lost 6, scoring 142 and conceding just 37, giving him his joint-best win ratio so far of 75%, tied with his time and Man United.
Where would Mahtal end up in search of club 13? Join us on Friday to find out!
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