THE VITALS:

Team: Borussia Dortmund

Brand: Puma

Era: 2020-21 (Used for the 2020-21 Bundesliga Season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

This shirt comes to you in nothing short of excellent condition with the material, sponsor and club crest showing little, if no wear.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Extra Large (XL)

Pit to Pit Measurement: 21 inches

Shirt Length: 29 inches 

Made by Puma in their Dry Cell range of shirts which they introduced in 2020; the dimensions of this shirt lend themselves to an ideal size extra large football shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

Puma’s first iteration of the white change strip for ‘Der BVB’ since 2016-17 would employ a similar pixelated/box pattern that was used for the European and domestic cup competition home shirt in what could very easily be the spiritual successor of the 2016-17 edition. White, yellow and grey would the employed colour scheme with black being neglected for this ensemble. This shirt would also retain the synonymous Evonik sponsor while the home, away and special 4^th shirt would use the 1&1 sponsor. The 2020-21 season would spell the end of the Lucian Favre era with the Swiss coach being dismissed in December 2020 after a disappointing first half of the season. Still, Edin Terzic would be promoted to head coach and ensure Dortmund finished in 3^rd place, reached a first UEFA Champions League quarter-final and also deliver the DFB-Pokal – the latter pair of feats being a first since the 2016-17 season. This season would also the term that the club were able to boast: Jude Bellingham, Marco Reus, Gio Reyna, Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland before Sancho returned to England in the summer of 2021.

THE SEASON:

Borussia Dortmund would enjoy a strong resurgence after German football resumed in May 2020 in wake of the Covid-19 global pandemic as they won six games of their nine games to close the season out to seal another second place finish and with the signing of Erling Haaland coming in January and netting a blistering 16 goals in his first half a season at Signal Iduna Park!

Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle’s contracts were allowed to expire in June 2020, while Achram Hakimi’s two year loan from Real Madrid wasn’t made permanent as Internazionale swooped for a €40 million transfer. There were however the acquisitions of: Thomas Meunier, Reinier (on loan from Real Madrid) and Jude Bellingham in what were almost like-for-like replacements as ‘Der BVB’ pursued a first Bundesliga title since the 2011-12 season.

The delayed 2020-21 season began on 19^th September 2020 when Dortmund saw Borussia Monchengladbach 3-0 with Haaland beginning the campaign with a brace. The team would enjoy a fine start to the new campaign as they put together five wins from their opening six games; accumulating an aggregate score of 13-2! Their form would take a drastic turn for the worst however from November as they were narrowly beaten 3-2 at home in the first ‘Der Klassiker’ of the season against Bayern Munich on 7^th November and they would win just twice more in the league in 2020 – a run that would ultimately spell the end of Lucien Favre’s tenure as manager with Edin Terzic stepping us as interim manager from 13^th December. Terzi would come in with the club lying in 5^th place with 19 points on the board and 6 adrift of league leaders – Bayer Leverkusen.

January 2021 would be the personification of a heavy schedule as there were six games to contend and Dortmund would claim wins over: Wolfsburg, RB Leipzig and Augsburg; however, crucial defeats to Leverkusen and Monchengladbach would see Dortmund fall some 13 points behind new league-leaders – Bayern Munich. Consistency would remain hard to come by the 2019-20 season runners-up and would also suffer the ignominy of surrendering a 2-0 lead against Bayern at the Allianz Arena on 6^th March, before being beaten 4-1. After being beaten 2-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt – they would fall six points them in the quest for a top four finish. In an unexpected up-turn in form; Dortmund would win all of their remaining seven games of the season to rally to a 3^rd place finish and just one point behind runners-up – RB Leipzig.

In the 2020-21 season curtain raiser, otherwise known as the DFB-Supercup; Dortmund would have to relinquish their grasp of the title as they were beaten 3-2 by Bayern Munich on 30^th September in the first of three epic encounters between Germany’s premier rivals!

In the DFB-Pokal however, Borussia Dortmund were imperious as they saw off the list of: MSV Duisburg, Eintracht Braunschweig, SC Paderborn, Borussia Mönchengladbach Holstein Kiel and lastly RB Leipzig to win their fifth national cup title! Jadon Sancho would score in every round except for the semi-final with his brace in the final on 13^th May being his final game of his first spell with the club!

Borussia Dortmund were also determined to do better on their European performance having endured three successive disappointing seasons on the European stage – going no better than a Last 16 finish in either the Champions League or Europa League. Drawn in Group F alongside: Lazio, Club Brugge and Zenit Saint Petersburg. After being beaten 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico against Lazio on Match-Day 1; they would win four of their next five games to secure a comfortable second place finish and set up an intriguing Last 16 clash against the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League winners – Sevilla.

Erling Haaland would produce a pair of decisive performances to enhance his reputation as Kylian Mbappe’s direct rival by scoring 4 of Dortmund’s 5 goals over  two legs as they stunned Sevilla 5-4 on aggregate. Jadon Sancho would have the opportunity to take on Manchester City for the first time since trading sky-blue for black and yellow in 2017 as a 17 year old, however, it was compatriot – Jude Bellingham who announced him on the European stage with a goal in the 2^nd Leg that equalised the score at 2-2 on aggregate. Ultimately, tournament favourites – City would eventually progress 4-2 on aggregate – however, Haaland would end win the tournament Golden Boot with his 10 strikes!

The notable players that season were:

Erling Haaland, Marco Reus, Youssoufa Moukoko, Giovanni Reyna, Thorgan Hazard, Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham, Emre Can, Reinier, Julian Brandt, Mahmoud Dahoud, Thomas Delaney, Axel Witsel, Felix Passlack, Marcel Schmelzer, Łukasz Piszczek, Thomas Meunier, Manuel Akanji, Mats Hummels, Nico Schulz, Raphael Guerreiro, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Mateu Morey, Marwin Hitz, Roman Burki