Dortmund, a beneficiary of Klopp's brillinace rather than a rival for Bayern Munich

Former Borussia Dotmund Head Coach, Jurgen Klopp is the only reason the club is considered a rival of Bayern Munich for Bundesliga titles season in and out but there appears no rivalry at all in the absence of the former Mainz boss.

Since the departure of the German in the summer of 2015, the 'Yellow and Black Wall' has not win a Bundesliga title, despite hiring and firing multiple managers during the period.

The closest they came to putting an end to Bayern's reign was last season, when they came close to winning the title, only to eventually lost it on the final day of the season, right in front of their home fans.

This takes one back to the turmoil the club was in prior to the appointment of the 56-year-old back in the summer of 2008, when the highlight sought-after tactician moved to the city.

That Kickstart practically the most successful era in the club's history as under the now Liverpool boss, they won back-to-back Bundesliga as well as a DFB Pokal titles between 2011 and 2012 seasons.

Dortmund also managed to reach the final of the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League, where they unfortunately lost to the same Bayern Munich, who became European champions for the fifth time and their first since 2001.

"'Full throttle football' was the credo back then. "We didn't reinvent football between 2008 and 2012 in Dortmund, but we had a tactical advantage for a while," reveals Klopp in an interview with podcast host Matze Hielscher.

"...and we set new standards in terms of intensity and physical effort .” But the success only came “because the boys were so good,” stress Klopp, who has went on to win the Champions League title with Liverpool.

Klopp, in his statement admitted the players in those periods are so good, young and ready fight for the club as many of them had progressed from the ranks in Dortmund.

Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan, Lucas Barrios, Roman Weidenfeller, Lukasz Piszczek, Shinji Kagawa, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Mario Gotze and more were eye-catching for the club, and helped Dortmund dominate in that short period.

Since the start of the 2003-04 season, Dortmund had finished outside of the top five in the Bundesliga but at the end of Jurgen Klopp's third season, they had become Champions of the German top-flight.

It was their first time winning the league since 2001-02 , when they won the league due to Bayern's commitments in the UEFA Champions League.

The same was repeated in 2011-12 as Dortmund made it back-to-back titles as Bayern made it to the Champions League final, where they were beaten by Chelsea in their own backyard.

Moreso, Dortmund does not have the pull like Bayern, and struggle to keep hold of their players when Bayern, or other top European teams come calling.

Robert Lewandowski, Mario Gotze, Ilkay Gundogan, Mats Hummels and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all move away in search of greener pastures, leaving the club in limbo. Jude Bellingham this summer has added to that list.

Since that time, until Klopp's eventual departure in 2015, and till now, Dortmund has never got the chance to win the Bundesliga title, with Bayern now winning eleven in a row.

Bayern, who has more Bundesliga titles than all other German clubs combined has no real competition in the division, unlike in other top European leagues.

The Yellow Wall is the next club that comes to mind after the Bavarians in Germany but in reality, there is a thin line between themselves and the other Bundesliga teams while there's a country mile distance between them and the Bayern.

Dortmund, most likely will not be able to replicate those days in the near future, not only because Bayern are not looking like relinquishing their dominance but also the emergence of clubs like RB Leipzig and the improvement of others.

Bayern is way ahead of Dortmund or any other German club for the matter and the only time there was anything close to being called competition was due to the presence of two-time FIFA The Best Coach of the Year.

Hassan Afolabi