Nobody found it shocking when Borussia Dortmund announced the dismissal of Lucien Favre. The crushing 5-1 loss to newly-promoted Stuttgart on Saturday was the straw that eventually broke the patience of Dortmund.
Favre, with a reputation for stylish games, arrived in Dortmund in 2018. His OGC Nice team played attractive Ligue 1 football but were unable to win a trophy. At Dortmund, what followed was similar to carbon copying.
The high point came early in the 2018-19 Bundesliga, with Dortmund taking the early lead. Football was high-octane, and Jadon Sancho saw the rise of a new superstar. Dortmund kept a six-point advantage at the top of the table when the winter break kicked in and beat Bayern Munich in front of the Yellow Wall.
But Bayern hit form when the season restarted. They closed down Dortmund’s lead and at the Allianz Arena, they hammered them 5-1. In the Champions League, an early cup exit and surprise defeat to Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham saw Dortmund end the season empty-handed.
The new man in the hot seat is former assistant coach Edin Terzic. The new manager would undoubtedly be weighed against Jurgen Klopp, much like Favre, Peter Stoger, Peter Bosz, and Thomas Tuchel. With a domestic double and back to back doubles, Klopp led Dortmund to new heights. While he would eventually see Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski poached by Bayern, his legacy remains the benchmark for managers in Dortmund.
