Seven players with an average age of 20.3 years
"No. We don´t have to address them with the formal ´Sie´". Following the 2-0 win over Bochum by BVB´s "U21 side", Sven Bender had a smile on his lips when asked about the few remaining experienced players in the team. With Roman Weidenfeller (29 years/173 Bundesliga games), Dede (31/308) and Patrick Owomoyela (29/115), only three players finished the game who are well above the age of 20 and have at least played a complete Bundesliga season.
Behind Lucas Barrios (23 years, 9th game) up front, BVB´s midfield was made up of Marcel Schmelzer (21), Damien Le Tallec (19), Kevin Großkreutz (21), Nuri Sahin (21) and Sven Bender (20), all players that are eligible to play for their respective U21 national teams, just like the central defenders Mats Hummels (20) and Neven Subotic (20).
That Sahin and Subotic are international players for Turkey and Serbia, respectively, that Hummels and Schmelzer were part of Germany´s U21 European championship winning side and that Bender just recently played for Germany at the U20 World Cup, underlines the quality of these seven players with an average age of 20.3 years. At the end of the game the entire BVB side had an average age of only 23.1 years!
"We wanted to get out of the victim role and we didn´t complain," said Jürgen Klopp about the absence of his key players Kehl, Hajnal und Tinga. That they are all midfield players didn´t make things any easier. "Against Bochum we started with a team with few experience, but they made up for it with passion." The young players guided each other and the older ones kept the team together - with a lot of willingness to run and tactical discipline. Michael Zorc, BVB´s director of sports, added, "We had a good, fresh game."
"We are used to replace important players the likes of Kehl, Hajnal or Tinga ," said Patrick "Grandpa" Owomoyela with the calm composure of an experienced pro, and revealed, "At halftime we also had to replace Nelson Valdez, and one or two other players had to continue playing with knocks. We refused to use the absentees as an excuse but wanted to move together as a team."
The new tactical system, which proved quite effective, will be on trial, particularly in the next away games. With Leverkusen, Bremen, Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg, the young BVB side face four quality sides until Christmas. "Leverkusen have a very good team. But if we play with the same spirit as against Bochum, we are capable of beating any side," said Nuri Sahin.
Following two wins in a row, Borussia Dortmund have made up ground. And compared to last season´s results, they have only earned two points less against the same teams. In this respect they can´t make up any ground against the league leaders on Friday as they beat Leverkusen last season at the BayArena 3-2.