Jerome Boateng: ‘Dortmund is still the opponent for us’
October 4, 2015
It's a long time since Jerome Boateng gave the performance of his career marking Lionel Messi out of the game in the 2014 World Cup Final. In the 5-1 win against Borussia Dortmund, over a year since that night in Brazil, the Bayern Munich defender gave perhaps the most complete defensive performance of his club career.
“Well it was one of the best games the team has played this season,” said Boateng to DW. “I don't care about my performance at the end of the day. The important thing is that we win. And we are happy we are still top of the league.”
Bayern is top of the league, but how long is it before Boateng is consider top of the defensive charts? While the tackling and battling side of his game wasn't called upon this time out, the offensive side was. His long-range passing was superb and it provided the platform off which Bayern raced clear of Dortmund, but Boateng denied that he had been under instruction to play more long balls.
“No. I saw that I could play them and I am happy that we scored from them. It's something I always train, just as much as short passes, but like I said, I'm happy that they resulted in goals today,” said the 27-year-old defender.
His first pass caused confusion in Dortmund's defense and allowed Thomas Müller to nip in and score. With Dortmund shutting down Bayern's early attacking forays, Boateng's passing was the perfect response. His long-ball right at the start of the second half was somewhere between sublime and fortunate. Either way, it proved the match-winning move and his second assist from within his own half.
Despite the fact Bayern blew their closest league rivals out of the water, Boateng still believes Borussia Dortmund remains the team to beat in the Bundesliga. “No matter how high we won today, they are still the opponent for us [in the league]. The first 20 minutes was difficult for us. They [Dortmund] played well and then we played better and started to play our game. At the end of the day, we deserved to win as high as we did.”