By beating Werder Bremen 1-0 on Friday evening, Borussia Dortmund racked up their fifth win on the bounce and their sixth in eight games this season. The numbers are top and – when viewed across the calendar year – even historic. And the performance curve continues to rise too.

Borussia registered 23 shots on the Bremen goal – even though the visitors defended resolutely – which is a season record for BVB. A total of 99 shots had been taken across the previous seven matchdays, which equates to around 14 per game. And: “We managed to keep a clean sheet by keeping the opponent very far from our goal,” said Edin Terzic, who added after the narrow but highly deserved triumph: “We’re not yet where we can be, but it was another step in the right direction.”

“We’re in a very good position with 20 out of a possible 24 points,” added the coach. That’s five more than a year ago. Borussia Dortmund are one of three teams yet to suffer a defeat. “We can speak of a very consistent development.”

Even more impressive – almost historic – is the tally for the 2023 calendar year. 66 points from 27 games, 2.44 points on average, is even better than the club record from the 2011/2012 title-winning season, with 81 points from 34 matches. “We’ve tried to draw our conclusions. Less sexy, more success,” said Terzic in summary of the more pragmatic approach since the start of the year, before raving after the win against Werder about “how we performed as a team – the guys did a great job.”
Boris Rupert