Photo

Clichés aplenty rang true in Germany last weekend when Borussia Dortmund — the cream of any neutral’s Bundesliga fascination — finally rose to the top, or at least above Bayer Leverkusen, to second place in the German table, after a convincing 3-2 away victory against its North Rhine rivals.

A victory at Leverkusen — arguably the most surprising team this season — would be sufficient to ring the celebratory bells at any club, yet the result came as the third installment to a run of form that has seen the defending champions playing scintillating soccer since the end of the winter break.

Alongside Leverkusen are Nurnberg and Werder Bremen — two teams that could do little but stand and watch as Jürgen Klopp’s mavericks weaved their magic past both teams to the tune of eight goals, with no response, over the course of the past few weeks.

The factory side did put up a fight of sorts, bringing the game back to two goals apiece on Stefan Reinartz’s double in the second half, to cancel out goals from Marco Reus and Jakub Blaszczykowski in the opening 45 minutes. But Robert Lewandowski’s third for Dortmund, which came almost immediately after Leverkusen’s equalizer, was enough to claim all three points for Dortmund.

So far this year, Dortmund has racked up 39 shots on goal, 11 goals and 9 points from its first three games. A gargantuan symbol of the club’s gung-ho intent.

Of course this is not a new phenomenon for Dortmund. When we compare the trends in Dortmund’s form over the course of last season to that of this current campaign, it becomes evident that Klopp’s team is incredibly regimented in applying its abilities at certain points in the season.

Photo

Granted nobody at the club would have preferred or even expected the vast drop of points in the first half of the season that has seen Bayern Munich surge ahead with a 12-oint lead, but the form — or lack thereof — in the first half of the season is almost identical to the strategy that recaptured the Bundesliga title last May.

Last season, Dortmund lost three games and drew a four, dropping a total of 17 points in the process, between September and December. This season, it lost three games — again — but drew two more games than last season, meaning the total points dropped between last September and December was 21. A mere four-point gap between the title winning form of last season, and the chasing pack of this current campaign.

A valid question that then arises from this trend is whether Dortmund will be able to catch and ultimately overcome Bayern like it did last season.

To understand the predicament Dortmund is in, we must return to this weekend’s games. While Reus & Company were battling with high-flyers Leverkusen, Munich traveled to fifth-place Mainz in an equally tricky encounter. Yet while Dortmund battled to a well-earned 3-2 victory, Bayern strolled to 3-0 victory with relative ease. And it has been like that all season long.

While Dortmund may have dropped an extra five points this time round, Bayern Munich has strengthened its cause with a host of new stars and picked up an extra seven points along the way. Dortmund may be just as good as last season, but Bayern has gotten better. The Bavarian club is 12 points ahead of Dortmund in second and a near-certainty for the title.

Of course, hope springs eternal for the ever-flamboyant Klopp, and for his team there is the slight chance that one bump in the road could deter Bayern’s enough for Dormund to get a foothold back in the race.

With a trick Champions League affair with Arsenal next week, and a DFB Pokal quarterfinal showdown with Dortmund 10 days later, it is possible to envision a little wear and tear before Frank Ribery & Company travel to Leverkusen, Frankfurt and Dortmund in the coming months.

In fact, Bayern’s greatest fault in its failed campaign last season was uts inability to pick up points against the title forerunners. In four matches against Dortmund and Gladbach last season, Munich failed to pick up single point. While the same games this season — replacing Gladbach with Leverkusen in third — has seen the side again fail to capitalize on the big games with only a solitary point at home to Dortmund.

For now Dortmund will continue to lay down its marker while Bayern maintain the confident march toward its first Bundesliga title in three seasons. A title all but won, which might, just maybe, offer a few twists and turns before May.

Follow Stefan Bienkowski on Twitter.