BORUSSIA DORTMUND coach Lucien Favre’s future is in doubt after Tuesday’s defeat to Bayern Munich all-but ended his side’s hopes of the Bundesliga title.
Joshua Kimmich’s first-half chip was the difference at an empty Signal Iduna Park, opening up a seven-point gap at the top of the table with six games to play.
Favre faced difficult questions as his side fell short againCredit: EPA
Erling Haaland’s arrival in January coincided with a renewed title challenge from Favre’s team but once again Munich were showed to have the edge on them in Der Klassiker.
That has led to accusations that Borussia will simply never take the final step to glory while the current coach, installed in 2018, remains at the helm.
Aside from success in his native Switzerland, the 62-year-old is yet to lift a major trophy after working his way up via Hertha Berlin, Borussia Monchengladbach and Nice.
Speaking after the narrow defeat to Munich, Favre provided a cryptic response to suggest he acknowledges that he has taken this team as far as he can.
On questions over his ability to win trophies, he admitted: “This has been said here for months.”
Favre then added: “I will make a statement in a couple of weeks.”
RUNNING OUT OF TIME
According to Kicker, Favre’s “days are numbered” with his comments increasing the sense that he will leave.
There is currently no obvious candidate to take over as coach should Dortmund make a change at the end of the season.
But with rivals circling for stars like Jadon Sancho and Haaland, the club are reportedly considering their options to get the best out of this team before it is poached like those before it.
For a season that promised so much with the Sancho-inspired Supercup win over Bayern in August, Borussia are drifting towards the conclusion of a campaign where they have hardly threatened any of the major honours.
Two years of last-16 exits from both the Champions League and DFB-Pokal have given fans little to dream of in terms of silverware.
And the final day heartbreak of last season’s Bundesliga title race is now looked back on as a huge missed opportunity before Bayern sacked Niko Kovac and got their act together.
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Last summer, Dortmund sought to close up the seemingly small gap by bringing back Mats Hummels from the Bavarians’ defence, and complementing the attack with wingers Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt.
German left-back Nico Schulz also arrived in a squad refresh costing around £100million – supplemented by the sales of five first-team players.
Such trust in Favre was not repaid when the Westphalia club went on a run of three wins in ten, kicked off by a shock defeat at newcomers Union Berlin, that they have struggled to fully bounce back from.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
