Last season saw Dortmund finish second in the league to Bayern München and lose to them in the Champions League final and this campaign bears a great deal of similarity to that. Borussia finished second in the league once again, a total of 18 points behind Bayern whilst they lost the German Cup final in extra time meaning that their only silverware of the season was won back in August in the German Super Cup although that has fairly little significance. Although they have little to show for the hard work put in this season, Jürgen Klopp can be satisfied with his side's performances as they once again did well in the Champions League, finishing as winners of a tough group before narrowly exiting at the hands of finalists Real Madrid. This, added to the league and cup form shows that Die Schwarz-Gelben can challenge amongst the best teams in the Europe still but this was also a season of change and adjustment in Dortmund. At the start of the season the fans were only just getting over the loss of prized possession Mario Götze to Bayern when the transfer of striker Robert Lewandowski was all but confirmed as well and he eventually signed the paperwork which sees him move to the league champions in January of this year, which is another blow for them. The new signings brought in at the start of the season had varying degrees of success with Sokratis perhaps the best piece of business as he went from bench warmer to a crucial part of the team after the injury to Neven Subotic. Pierre-Emmerick Aubameyang and Henrik Mhkitaryan were also very good in parts but never really hit a consistent vein of form. Instead it was the constant injury problems which really shaped the season with a number of first team players suffering long term injuries including Jakub Blaszykowski, Sven Bender, Ilkay Gundogan and the aforementioned Subotic. Alongside that quartett Marcel Schmelzer, Lukas Piszczek and Mats Hummels also missed considerable periods out with injury. With the majority of these players being in the defence or defensive midfield it is easy to understand why they lost ground on Bayern as they dropped points against a number of the bigger teams in the league before Christmas. Leverkusen, Gladbach, Wolfsburg and crucially Bayern all took maximum points against Dortmund which meant at the winter break Klopp's side were not on course for a top three finish. However Borussia had a number of attacking players who were almost ever present with the duo of Lewandowski and Marco Reus scoring consistently throughout the year with the former ending as the league top scorer. But it was Reus who was perhaps their most effective player as he shined in a role behind the striker particularly at the end of the season, scoring and making a number of crucial goals. This attacking ability combined with a more consistent back line meant that Dortmund were able to push on in the second half of the season with some crucial wins coming against top sides including away at Bayern. The cup final defeat at the end of the season will have been a bitter blow as it means another big match defeat to Bayern but Dortmund will be refreshed and ready to go after the summer break, probably with all their long term injuries back in training. However it will be a big summer for Klopp and his staff who need to identify a replacement for Lewandowski and must also strengthen other areas of the pitch, namely in defence where right and left back remain the cause of some concern. Adrian Ramos has already been signed up in attack but he is not in the same class as Lewandowski and they might have their eye on someone else as well.
