Borussia Dortmund were clear and deserved winners of last season’s Bundesliga, winning the league by seven points over Bayer Leverkusen. Back in third place sat Bayern Munich, ten points behind the eventual winners in a tumultuous season that saw them lose Louis Van Gaal in April. Going forward, with an attacking midfield trio of Arjen Robben, Thomas Muller and Franck Ribery backing Mario Gomez, there’s plenty of class in the final third and it’s no surprise Bayern finished the season as the league’s top scorers; they bagged a fantastic 81 Goals in 34 games but with 40 Goals Against, it’s clear their problems lie at the back.

New boss Jupp Heynckes will begin work in July and is joined by Schalke’s brilliant young keeper Manuel Neuer as the German giants look to launch a strong bid for next season’s title. Dortmund’s title win -despite the eye-catching talents of Nuri Sahin grabbing the headlines- was based on a solid defence that conceded just 22 Goals over the entire season. A look at the key areas in which they excelled indicates what improvement is needed if the Munich side are to take the Bundesliga back.

Full-Back
Dortmund’s main full-backs last season, Marcel Schmelzer and Lukasz Piszczek, are something of a contrasting combination; Schmelzer’s solidity at the back combined with Piszczek’s attacking threat sees the champions get the best of both worlds.

The duo average 2.5 Tackles, 1.85 Interceptions and 1.6 Clearances at the back, have an Aerial Duels success rate of 50.5% and make 0.85 Fouls per game.  Schmelzer particularly stands out here with 3.4 Tackles on average. Distribution-wise, they have a Pass Accuracy of 75% and make 0.82 Key Passes per game, and going forward, they average 0.75 Successful Dribbles per game and picked up 7 Assists between them for the season.

Bayern’s most-used full-backs were Philipp Lahm and Danijel Pranjic; the pair are very similar types, with Lahm just edging it in Clearances and Pass Accuracy. On average, they made 1.8 Tackles, 1.55 Interceptions and 0.95 Clearances per game. They won just 48% of Aerial Duels though only made 0.65 Fouls on average. Passing Accuracy was a fantastic 85%, with Lahm the stand-out of the two here on 88%. Despite such a high success in distribution, they averaged only 0.67 Key Passes per game, suggesting a safety-first options. They made 0.65 Successful Dribbles and grabbed 8 Assists between them last season.

A comparison of both side’s stats shows that, in the majority of these key areas, Dortmund’s full-backs were superior to those of Bayern. From Tackles, Interceptions and Clearances at the back -fundamental to their side conceding just 22 goals all season- to troubling opponents with Key Passes and Successful Dribbles, Schmelzer and Piszczek were better than Lahm and Pranjic.

Centre Half
Dortmund are lucky enough to call on Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels as their central defensive partnership. The pair’s stats are almost identical, with fantastic ball-winning abilities allied with steady distribution. Hummels has the edge when it comes to goal threat (he scored 5 to Subotic’s 1) and is less likely to pick up yellow cards.

They averaged 2.1 Tackles, 2.4 Clearances, 4.15 Clearances and 0.5 Blocked Shots per game, winning 63.5% of Aerial Duels. The pair made just 0.8 Fouls per game, had a 78.5% Pass Accuracy and threatened the opposition goal with 0.9 Shots per game. Between them, they chipped in with 6 Goals and 1 Assist last term.

Bayern relied on the centre-back pairing of Daniel van Buyten and Holger Badstuber. Both are particularly dominant in the air and are comfortable in distribution and Van Buyten’s reading of the game dovetails with Badstuber’s ball-winning abilities.

They averaged 1.9 Tackles, 1.95 Interceptions, 2.1 Clearances and 0.45 locked Shots, winning an impressive 76.5% Aerial Duels. They made 1.1 Fouls per game and were great in distribution, with a 85% Pass Accuracy. Between them, they scored 2 Goals and made 1 Assist, averaging 0.3 Shots per game.

Similar to the full-backs, the Dortmund pair trumped Bayern in almost every key defensive stat. In particular, they made double the number of Clearances and had three times the goal threat. Van Buyten and Badstuber were superior only in Aerial Duels and Pass Accuracy.

Defensive Central Midfield
With both sides favouring a 4-2-3-1, Dortmund’s most used twosome in the “double pivot” was Nuri Sahin and Sven Bender. Sahin’s all-round game was superb, with Key Passes (3.47) the main highlight. Bender’s defensive work was outstanding, with 4.8 Tackles per game indicative of his work rate.

Between them, the pair averaged 4.3 Tackles, 2.65 Interceptions and 0.7 Clearances per game and their more offensive stats were just as strong. 1.99 Key Passes and 1.2 Shots per game highlight their danger -particularly Sahin’s- going forward. They had a Pass Accuracy of 76%, scored 7 Goals,  and the only real downside was a relatively high Foul count, 1.8 per game.

With Mark Van Bommel moving on to Milan, Bayern’s most recent “double pivot” pairing has been Bastian Schweinsteiger and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk. Schweinsteiger’s goal threat, creativity and ease on the ball combined with Tymoshchuk’s reading of the game protect the Bayern back-four.

The pair average 3.05 Tackles, 1.55 Interceptions and 1.3 Clearances per game, with an impressive Pass Accuracy of 86%.. Their Foul count was also high, with an average 1.7, but creatively, were poor, with 0.85 Key Passes per game. They also didn’t pose much of a consistent goal threat, with 0.85 Shots on average, though did find the net 7 times.

Again, Dortmund out-battled Bayern, this time in the middle of the park. In what is a common theme through the three key positions, they also proved greater threat going forward, meaning the side has more of a balanced threat throughout, as opposed to Bayern’s reliance on their front four.