There was naturally a good feeling in the air as the team and officials boarded the "Team Airbus" on Thursday afternoon and flight EW1909 departed from Warsaw. Borussia Dortmund had made a successful start to their UEFA Champions League campaign, having picked up what was their highest away victory of all time in European football and their biggest-ever win in Europe's elite club competition.

The big question mark surrounding yesterday's match was whether Borussia were good or Legia bad as the former strode to a 6-0 victory? "No idea," was Thomas Tuchel's answer, the coach adding: "And it's not worth debating either. When things look easy, it always means there was a lot of work involved. It was a problem for Legia that were played very, very well in the first half an hour, were effective, courageous and self-confident and demonstrated all of our qualities on the pitch."

"If it looks easy, it means there was a lot of work involved"

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Strong performer: Raphael Guerreiro

In such a case, statistics are a helpful indicator as to how strong a performance was. In the history of the UEFA Champions League – and there have been some huge margins of victory – a team has never been 3-0 ahead after 16 minutes. And a total of 30 shots on goal represented a new club record for Borussia Dortmund in the competition. "We will first analyse the match and will not start to dispute the quality of the opposition just yet," said Tuchel, adding: "We were clearly dominant and took full advantage. If you notice that you're effective, then it can well be the case that you score a lot of goals."

In any case, the transformation of the usual 4-2-3-1 formation – which becomes a 3-2-4-1 when BVB have the ball and Schmelzer gets forward – into a 4-1-4-1 system with Weigl as the sole defensive midfielder worked wonders for the team last night. 

"We were completely focused from the off, took our chances early and played well," said Mario Götze, adding: "Especially after the weekend's match in Leipzig, where there was room for improvement, it was important for us. We showed we can do things differently." Rather than frivolously giving away the ball, the visitors moved the ball about seamlessly, registering a pass completion rate of 92 percent!

Götze and Guerreiro the driving force

World champion Götze pulled the strings in midfield alongside European champion Raphael Guerreiro. "Good footballers just understand each other, even if they don't speak the same language," said Sporting Director Michael Zorc. The Portuguese, who shone as a left-back at EURO 2016, is being deployed increasingly frequently by Tuchel in central midfield, where he is demonstrating a combination of technical ability and outstanding tactical understanding. "It is true that we had a good understanding. Mario is a great player with great qualities. I felt very comfortable playing alongside him. We often looked for each other – and often found each other too.

"Warsaw were no Madrid in terms of quality"

This statement about finding each other is one that still applies to the whole team. The upcoming matches will ultimately put the win in the Polish capital into perspective. As Zorc concluded, "Warsaw were no Madrid in terms of quality".

Los Blancos will travel Signal Iduna Park on 27 September.
Boris Rupert