Mixed European fortunes

Jürgen Klopp's description of his Borussia Dortmund team's collapse against Olympique Marseille on Tuesday could well be seen as an assessment of their entire European experience this season: "Everything fell apart."

Dortmund shipped two goals in the second half after leading 2-1 at the break, with Mathieu Valbuena's spectacular 87th minute winner for the French champions finally burying BVB's feint Champions League hopes and leaving them bottom of Group F without even a place in the Europa League as a consolation.

In all honesty, the German champions' continued participation in Europe's premier club competition had been in doubt long before the diminutive Valbuena tricked his way into the Dortmund penalty area and curled a sumptuous shot beyond the despairing dive of Roman Weidenfeller.

With only one win, one draw, and three defeats before the visit of Marseille, Dortmund only had a mathematical chance of reaching the knock-out phase, needing to win by at least 4-0 and for Arsenal to beat Olympiakos to go through. Neither result went Dortmund's way on the night but the damage had already been done as far back as September when Marseille beat BVB 3-0 in France.

After scraping a 1-1 home draw against Arsenal in the opening group game, the loss to Marseille was a significant blow but worse was to come. Travelling to Greece in October, Dortmund returned home soundly beaten again, this time losing 3-1 in Piraeus.

The return fixture gave Klopp's team a glimmer of hope, with Olympiakos narrowly beaten 1-0. But even this victory failed to dispel the feeling that Dortmund were struggling to deal with the rigors of the Champions League. The 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in London in November heaped more pressure on this young BVB team, leaving them with the mountain they failed to climb on Tuesday night.

Youthful BVB adrift in Europe

"The disappointing performances against Marseille and Piraeus reinforced the belief that BVB are not strong enough to compete internationally," Marcus Bark, Bundesliga correspondent for Sportschau.de, told Deutsche Welle.

After sweeping all before them in the Bundesliga last season to win the championship in confident, swash-buckling style, Dortmund looked bemused and nervous at times in the Champions League.

The pace of the European game, something a youthful and high-tempo team like BVB should have been able to cope with, seemed to take them by surprise.

The cavalier approach and reliance on a high-pressing game which had served them so well in the Bundesliga often left them exposed in defense while their attackers, who preyed on jittery German defenses at will last season, found European back lines much harder to breach. The intensity of the midfield battles also seemed to shock Klopp's young charges.

The contrast between Dortmund's European failure and Bayern Munich's campaign is a stark one. A second-string Bayern team may have lost 2-0 to Manchester City on Wednesday night but qualification as Group A winners had been assured with the 3-1 home win over Villarreal three weeks previously, meaning coach Jupp Heynckes could afford to give his star names the night off.

"Bayern played one of the best group stages for many years; the players were very well prepared, very well balanced, fit and ready when they were needed," Patrick Strasser, the Bayern correspondent at the Munich Abendzeitung newspaper, told Deutsche Welle. "They played in a very cool way at times, thoughtful and clever. Coach Heynckes did everything right in a tough group."

Bayern decisive and accomplished

The defeat to City was the only loss suffered in Bayern's six-game group stage. The 1-1 draw in Napoli in October – a victory only denied by a Holgar Badstuber own goal – was the only other time that maximum points were not collected. Elsewhere Bayern looked commanding in their games, putting three past Napoli and Villarreal at home and dominating Manchester City in a 2-0 victory at the AllianzArena in September.

"The 2-0 win at Villarreal in the beginning was a vital one as it showed the rest of the group that Bayern could also dominate away games," said Strasser. "Against Man City in September they had their best performance, winning 2-0 with very direct, powerful and strong soccer."

"After the 1-1 in Napoli, Bayern were the far better side in the re-match, leading 3-0 until Schweinsteiger got badly injured," he added. "They were shocked then, going down from 3-0 to 3-2. But they still managed to qualify with ease with one game to go in November thanks to the 3-1 against Villarreal. All-in-all it was a group stage full of powerful and clever performances."

To progress from a group which had been labelled the Group of Death with such a fine record, even by Bayern Munich's standards, should be admired and those teams facing Bayern in the next stages will be wary of a team which is looking increasingly comfortable at this level.

One shouldn't forget that Bayern Munich will not be the only German side in the knock-out stages, although Bayer Leverkusen's progress has been far less celebrated – despite being all the more impressive due to the relative inexperience in their squad.

Leverkusen's pride at hard-fought qualification

Robin Dutt's side narrowly lost out in qualifying as Group E winners, finishing second to Chelsea – who they beat three weeks ago to reach the last 16 – after drawing 1-1 to Genk in Belgium on Tuesday night. But advancing with one game to spare in a group which not only featured the London giants but also a strong and creative Valencia team is a fine achievement for a team struggling for consistent form in the Bundesliga.

Things looked bleak when Leverkusen lost 2-0 to Chelsea in their opening game back in September, a result which again exposed their frailties – both mental and tactical, but a 2-0 home win over Genk and a rousing 2-1 victory over Valencia at the BayArena propelled Leverkusen up the group table and gave the Germans a fighting chance of qualification.

A 3-1 battering at the Mestalla, however, in the corresponding fixture with Valencia again raised doubts over Leverkusen's mettle but the smash-and-grab raid they launched on Chelsea in November – with Manuel Friedrich's last minute header giving the Germans a 2-1 win on the night and sending them through to the knock-out rounds - showed huge character and a new resilience and belief.

For a team with only a smattering of players with European experience, led by a coach with zero, Leverkusen's progress raises more questions about Dortmund's inability to reach the last 16.

Author: Nick Amies

Editor: Andreas Illmer