Dortmund win big to secure Champions League qualification

Borussia Dortmund 6-1 Wolfsburg
(Rothe 24', Witsel 26', Akanji 28', Can 35', Haaland 38', 54' — Baku 81')
Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund

In a season where a lot went wrong, Borussia Dortmund seemed to fully enjoy a day where almost everything went right.

Despite injuries and mediocre form, Marco Rose's squad came to play, taking advantage of a Wolfsburg goal that appeared to be open for business. Three goals in five minutes midway through the first half got the Wesfalenstadion crowd off their feet, and the hosts took a 5-0 lead into halftime before winning 6-1.

Tom Rothe, a 17-year-old left-back making his Bundesliga debut, was the first to score for the home side before Erling Haaland capped the scoring spree with his first two goals since January.

The victory all but ensured Dortmund would play Champions League football next season — they sit 12 points ahead of fifth-placed Freiburg with a vastly superior goal difference. But given the near-insurmountable gap between them and league leaders Bayern Munich, their season is effectively over.

Dortmund's season in three results

Though the scoreline was lopsided, Dortmund's win reflected the good and the bad of this season. Marco Rose's team saw the teenage Rothe and Marius Wolf starting on the wings, a product of Dortmund's injury trouble.

Rothe savored his Bundesliga debut, but even he acknowledged himself that it only came about due to his side's desperate squad situation.

"It was a bit of good and bad luck because Thorgan [Hazard] was injured," said the under-19 player, who learned of his start on Friday evening. "I didn't have much time to think about it. That's why it was perhaps a good thing that I had a clear head then."

Hazard is one of 11 players currently injured for Dortmund. They've also gone long periods without other key players like Manuel Akanji, Emre Can and Erling Haaland, and the inconsistent squad options have led to inconsistent form.

Even so, many of Dortmund's poor results this season have been due to weak defending, and Saturday's big win could have gotten off to a different start. Rose was sure to point out after the game that Wolfsburg had the first big chance of the game, a shot from Lukas Nmecha inside the six-yard box that was saved miraculously by Gregor Kobel.

But Rose's side has also shown that it's a force to be reckoned with. The win over Wolfsburg alone might have been a fluke, but they have scored five or more goals five times this season.

In all, Dortmund's last three results perhaps best sum up their season — a 4-1 loss to Leipzig in front of their home fans, a hard-fought 2-0 away win against Stuttgart and their 6-1 demolition of Wolfsburg. They have been just as likely to win or lose big while mostly grinding out league results that have kept them near the top.

'We want to achieve something'

So given all their trials and shortcomings this season, perhaps Champions League qualification is an apt result for an up-and-down season. But after Champions League group-stage elimination, an early Europa League exit, a third-round German Cup dismissal and another uncompetitive Bundesliga title race, the players themselves know they could have achieved more.

"Everyone here sees the season so far a bit negatively," Emre Can told Kicker recently. "Expectations are higher, both at the club and in the team. We want to achieve something. We want to lift trophies. We didn't manage that this year. We have to improve on that. And we can do better."

Champions League qualification is key both for Dortmund's bottom line and the club's ability to attract some of Europe's best young talent. They still have second place in their sights, and upsetting Bayern Munich in next week's Klassiker is always a major aspiration.

But for the third season in five, Germany's second-biggest football club has very little to compete for in April. And with more big squad changes coming — Haaland's impending departure chief among them — there's little guarantee that the club will find itself in a different situation next season.