Daily Schmankerl: The aftermath of Der Klassiker and a birthday for Philipp Lahm

Die Folgen: Bayern vs. Dortmund (Bavarian Football Works)

Borussia Dortmund used a scintillating second half effort to stun Bayern Munich and capture a 3-2 decision. It was a tale of two halves for Die Roten. Here are some quick hitters on the match:

• The first half was as good as Bayern has played all season. Despite the occasional lapse, Bayern was in control and looked dangerous.
• The wing play for Bayern was solid. Both Franck Ribery and Serge Gnabry have the capability of producing more from the opportunities they had yesterday, but did well enough to be a factor in the game.
• I thought Leon Goretzka and Thomas Muller did will behind Robert Lewandowski for the most part. The trio, together, helped establish such a solid first half offensive effort.
• If anything, Lewandowski seems to be heating up and ready to help lead the offense. It would be great to see a little more creativity overall from the front line, but I don’t think this is a game where you can put too much blame on the offensive personnel.

• Bayern’s propensity for its back four pushing up has killed it multiple times this season, but never more so then yesterday. The second half neared a Keystone Cops level of craziness especially. Jerome Boateng was left on an island at times yesterday (especially by Javi Martinez and Niklas Süle) in the second half. Mats Hummels was clearly not himself as well.

• If Hummels was as sick as reported, this was not the game to try and tough it out.
• If the Bundesliga had a first half MVP, it would be Marco Reus, hands down.
• In a lot of ways, Dortmund just wanted that game more and it showed in the result. There is no shame in that loss, but how the team rebounds will be key. Will they be broken or will they use it as a rallying point?

If you missed our Match Awards or Observations from the match, please give them a look.

Happy Birthday Philipp Lahm (@FCBerni12)

The former Bayern captain turns 35 today.

A call for fan groups (BavarianFootballWorks.com)

We are trying something here at the Daily Schmankerl and need YOUR help. If you read my man Tommy Adams’ piece about his experience with the FCBNYC Fan Club (if you haven’t, SHAME ON YOU!), you could see how great the event was. So we want to highlight some of these wonderful groups that are out there globally and this is what we need from you:

• Name of the group
• Location
• Year founded
• Leadership (if you have people are kind of running the show)
• Meeting place
• Social media handles
• Pictures

We want to be able to feature a different fan group every week this season. Maybe we can do it, maybe not...but only YOU can help decide the fate of this idea. Send your info to: barrelsportsblog@gmail.com