The match began with a kickoff from Schalke.
And they attacked immediately. The midfielder lofted a through ball to the rushing winger, Levan Kobiashvili. But as soon as he started rushing the referee's whistle blew for offside. He raised his head and scanned the pitch in confusion.
He was more than forty yards away from the touchline. How did it become an offside?
Only then did he notice that Dortmund are keeping their defenceline very high. So much that not only him, but also every Schalke player, coaches, every viewer and even the commentators were bewildered.
Are Dortmund going to keep the defense line that high? No way, right?
But the game that followed proved them wrong. Dortmund are not even trying to play the low block defence. Their defenders were always more than thirty yards away from the touch line. It took them a bit of time to adapt to this defense.
You have to remember the high defence line was a tactic that was frowned upon by pundits and analysts at this point of time. No sane manager would try to adopt this kind of reckless and high risk defence for their team.
Adaptation of such a tactic itself spoke volume about the characteristics of the new Dortmund coach.
Although Schalke fumbled a few times playing against such a style, they were not a team that could be held back by this alone. They had a very high team coordination and understanding, not to mention stars.
They had future superstars such as THE Manuel Neuer as the number 1 goalkeeper, number 10 Ivan Rakitic, 14 – Gerald Asamoah, 18 – Rafinha, 2 – Heiko Westermann etc.
The young Neuer and Rakitic are young but they are absolute starters in the squad. This spoke volumes of their talent and ability.
Note that Rafinha is not the future Barcelona player Rafinha Alcantara, please dont even consider the Brazilian Raphinha. Instead he has played a lot of games against Barcelona, and is a future Bayern Munich legend.
But this squad does have a certain Barcelona connection. Excluding Ivan Rakitic, their number 2, Heiko Westermann will work as assistant coach to Hansi Flick during his managerial period at the club.
Schalke quickly adapted to the defense line, focusing on timing the runs below the line. But they had to overcome the relentless pressing from the Dortmund side. At a point of time Schalke found themself getting suffocated by the high intensity pressing employed by the opponent across the pitch.
Even theri striker and wingers rushed back to press and steal the ball. Even though they had many star players and a well established squad, Schalke found themself unable to play the football they wanted to play because of the constant pressure.
There was simply no time to think!
But the brilliance was followed by confusion. The system would click for thirty seconds, then break down. Players were half a second too slow, positioning slightly wrong, timing off. Sometimes they pressed together mindlessly, leaving a whole patch of land below, but then they played coordination, leaving midfielders and defenders with no further passing option, forcing them to mindlessly play highball over the defence.
The match was such utter chaos.
And it didn't take long for a goal to be born.
Schalke striker Gerald Asamoah scored from a defensive lapse, timing the run perfectly and finishing from a 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper.
The Veltins-Arena exploded.
Marco put his hands on his knees, breathing hard. This was going to be a long match.
By half time, the score board remained the same. The whole half was chaos. Sometimes Schalke seemed to have an absolute advantage, but there were also times when Dortmund seemed to dominate the pitch with their sheer intensity and running volume.
There was also no shortage for rough collisions and tackles. The atmosphere truly reflected the mood of the derby. Jermaince Jones from Schalke and Sebastian Kehl from Dortmund almost come to trading blows on the pitch. But team mates and referees pacified the situation somehow.
During the halftime, Klopp encouraged them further. He didn't tell them to slow down or conserve their stamina, but opted to continue the intensity. They simply didn't have the freedom to consider the fast drainage of stamina.
Soon the second half started. From the body language of the Schalke player it became clear that they are not looking to dominate the pitch with the same intensity as the first half. Instead they sat deep, inviting the Dortmund attack. It is clear that they are looking for counter attacking and catching the opponents off guard.
Seeing the situation Dortmund stepped down their pace, trying to find space through lateral passes and combination plays. Even though they are playing under a new manager and playing according to new tactics, the team remained more or less the same as the previous one, except for the addition of a few more young players.
They have already been playing together for at least half a year, not to mention most of the senior team members playing together for many seasons. So the current Dortmund team is not exactly a new team because the team members still inherited the previous understanding and chemistry from that period.
When the pace slowed down, the confusion lessened and the game began to flow more smoothly. None of them noticed this phenomenon more clearly than Marco Reus. He seems to have a special sense, allowing him to experience this mysterious feeling.
With each touch of the ball the clarity of his thoughts increased, he seemed to process the current situation more faster. And following his lead Dortmund began to dominate the possession and started to create more goal scoring opportunities.
In the fifty fifth minute, Dede intercepted a Schalke counter attack and passed the ball toward Marco.
The moment Marco saw the ball coming towards him he scanned the field with quick glances, his brain naturally processing the information and formuting the action plan.
He quickly passed the ball towards Tinga, and continued to rush forward. Tinga, reading his intentions, quickly returned the ball towards him.
Wall pass.
Although this move is extremely simple to execute, using it correctly can have miraculous effects. Just like now, the combination play effectively eliminated three opposing players from the equation, without even allowing them to foul.
Marco collected the ball and continued his run forward. Two defenders were effectively blocking his paths and all forward passing options.
Marco's eyes spotted the striker, Mladen Petric making a run behind the two men. Marco's leg instantly touched the ball to play the through ball. But the defender expected this move ahead of time and already moved to intercept the pass.
But just as he lifted his foot, he noticed Marco's feet moving ahead of the ball with an unnatural grace and pulled the ball across the flat footed defender.
Elastico!
He was now in space, with enough time to power his shot.
He quickly scanned the goal keeper position and curved the ball toward the far corner. The ball sailed just over the grass, ready to burrow into the bottom corner.
And under the gazes of myriad spectators filled with numerous emotions, the ball was somehow touched by the diving goalkeeper, the young Manuel Neuer. It thudded against the post and went out for a corner kick.
"Woahhhh..."
Huge exclamation could be heard from the crowd. It was unknown whether they were astonished by the genius build up or the astonishing save.
Marco groaned against the sky, just like his team mates. That was the first real opportunity Dortmund earned in the game. On the sidelines Klopp was seen covering his face with his hands with an exaggerated pose. He then cheered on:
"Unlucky! Keep it up! Reus, I want to see more of that."
Marco only gave a thumbs up in response, indicating that he got it.
For the next few minutes, Marco faced more rough challenges. Schalke never forgot about him. It was him who caused their defeat in their first encounter of the season.
They knew he was the most dangerous player of the Dortmund squad. Despite only being in his teens, he alone carried the whole team for the season. It was evident how much of an impact he can cause on this match.
The game continued.
Seventy eighth minute.
The game was already in the last quarter. And due to the relentless pressing and continuous running, Dortmund players have already begun running out of gas.
But even though there were many players who refused to give up. They continued the pressing even in these dying minutes.
At this time Dortmund was awarded a corner. All the players except the goal keeper were present at the vicinity of the box, even the center back, Hummels was present.
Marco took the corner and whipped a dangerous cross into the second post. After a chaotic scramble, the ball somehow reached the veteran wing back Dede.
There was no planning or tactic, he somehow ended up at the right place at the right time. And he didn't disappoint, slotting the ball into the net with a quick strike.
GOAL!
1 – 1!
Dede turned arms wide, sprinting to the corner flag. But before he could reach his destination, he was tackled to the ground by his Brazilian compatriant, Tinga. Players piled on top of him.
Dortmund fans and players were ecstatic. After all the energy and sweat invested into the match, it would have been sad if they couldn't even get a point out of this match. Now that they have equalised, if they could maintain the scoreline till the end, it would be a steal!
And they did exactly that.
They withstood the desperate attacks of the Schalke players, managing to keep the score line unchanged.
Until the 94th minute, till the final whistle blew, Dortmund kept defending. Even the attackers retreated to defend, leaving only a single player near the center circle.
When the heard the final whistle, a wind of relief blew in the mind of all players, and they collapsed into the turf, gasping for air.
The match had been tough, not only because of the opponents quality, but also their relentless running. No player was left an ounce of extra energy—everyone was dead tired.
You have to remember, it has only been a few days since they started the training with new tactics. There was simply no time to gradually build up their stamina reserve or collective enhancement of physical quality.
And currently, this type of tactic is not sustainable with this squad.
But no player lying on the ground was upset now. Klopp's words rang in their ears. They have proved their determination, they have proved their heart. And this is the foundation they have built upon.