Julian Brandt might have picked up UEFA’s Man of the Match award following a victory which put his side in the semi-finals of the Champions League this week but, if he himself had a vote, the trophy would have gone the way of a former Manchester United man playing the best football of his post-Old Trafford career.
Following his two-goal showing last weekend, Borussia Dortmund boss Edin Terzic labelled Marcel Sabitzer an ‘outstanding’ talent. A footballer of ‘brutal quality’ who, after slamming in a fierce volley and then converting a penalty, scored his first Bundesliga brace in six years.
A timely one too, with Dortmund’s top-four chase likely to go down to the wire.
Remarkably, that was not even Sabitzer’s best performance of the last week. Even better was still to come a few days later, the experienced Austria international slamming home a trademark piledriver to see Dortmund past Atletico Madrid while setting up a last-four meeting with Paris Saint-Germain.
Manchester United could do with a midfielder like him
Brandt, who opened the scoring on the night, picked up the Man of the Match award at full-time. An award he feels should have gone instead to his partner in Terzic’s midfield, Sabitzer the driving force behind a very unexpected run to the latter stages of Europe’s elite club competition for a Dortmund team who have largely underwhelmed domestically this term.
“I’m happy with this little trophy,” Brandt tells Sky Deutschland. “But all the lads played an amazing game. Marcel Sabitzer was my Man of the Match because he had a massive impact.”
Sabitzer’s ‘impact’ has been growing almost by the game of late. The former Bayern Munich ace, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Manchester United, is certainly showing that the Red Devils may have been a little quick to dismiss the idea of a £22 million permanent deal, Erik ten Hag crying out for a midfielder of Sabitzer’s relentless endeavour, ball-striking ferocity and his willingness to lead by example (Sky Sports).
Dortmund, shortly after United opted against retaining Sabitzer’s services, struck a deal worth a knock-down fee of just £16 million.
Dortmund face PSG in Champions League semi-finals
“Although they are intrinsically quite chaotic, (Dortmund) do have a lot of individual quality,” is the view of European football expert Andy Brassell, speaking on the On the Continent podcast. “And a lot of that individual quality stepped up (against Atletico Madrid)”.
“We had the best game from Marcel Sabitzer since he arrived, and he’s been brilliant in the last few weeks to be fair. He’s grown more and more into being a Dortmund player in recent weeks.”
Dortmund are now just 180 minutes away from reaching the Champions League final for the first time since the days of Jurgen Klopp, Ilkay Gundogan and Robert Lewandowski. While PSG will be heavy favourites – Le Parisien’s swapping their flawed Galactico ambitions for something a little more sensible and co-ordinated – it’s worth mentioning that few would have given Dortmund a chance against Atletico either.
But with Sabitzer in this kind of form, blossoming into a talismanic presence at a club who have needed someone to look up to on the pitch for some time now, anything feels possible in the final stages of the Champions League.