Ghosts of 2023 quelled after Dortmund return to the Bundesliga summit | Andy Brassell

It is probably a stretch to call BVB title contenders but Niko Kovac’s side maintained their 100% start against Stuttgart

Borussia Dortmund would probably rather not think about the last time that they topped the Bundesliga. It was in May 2023, just before all their dreams imploded, with black and yellow Deutscher Meister t-shirts – ‘German champions’ – for sale on the approach to Signal Iduna Park and cold beers at the ready. Now, that is no longer the most recent time Dortmund have led the pack.

It’s four games, four wins to start this season and the Niko Kovac workout plan is hitting the spot. Saturday night’s single-goal win at Stuttgart was a game that had the gravitas of a true Topspiel, if not quite the entertainment value of one. Kovac’s fingerprints were all over it. The conversation of whether his view of the game fits with BVB’s swashbuckling image will no doubt continue, but this was a case in point to show just how good Kovac has been for the club, and for the team.