The remarkable return of Mats Hummels

Borussia Dortmund could have lost it all on Sunday afternoon. Ten points behind first place in the Bundesliga, just two wins from five and up against a Bayer Leverkusen side that were determined to play their visitors off the part: Edin Terzic’s side were expected to not only walk away from the BayArena without any points, but also a thorough lesson in how to coach and develop a proper football team. 

Whether Dortmund passed that test entirely is perhaps still up for debate. Like a plucky team that had only recently won promotion from the 2.Bundesliga, the Westfalen team dug in deep on the edge of their six-yard line and didn’t budge an inch for the duration of the 90 minutes. Two things ensured that Terzic was able to leave the stadium that night with his head held high and his job status still intact: an unexpected goal from Julian Ryerson five minutes into the match and heroic defending from Mats Hummels for the proceeding 85 minutes that followed. 

Indeed, over the course of the game the 34-year-old defender made almost twice as many tackles as the next best Dortmund defender, 40% of his team's total interceptions and blocked no less than six shots: more than Emre Can, Nico Schlotterbeck and Antonios Papadopoulos combined. Gregor Kobel aside, no single player worked harder to ensure that Dortmund won a point and kept their self-respect intact against Leverkusen.