Bayern has as many injured players tonight as Dortmund had. No team in the world can easily replace Schweinsteiger, Ribery, Badstuber.
That their absence wasn't felt tonight was not a god gift, but the result of planning and learning by experience.
The number of injuries is not the problem, it is the concentration in one single area. It is obviously way easier to replace a CB, CM and LW than the whole back line. If Dortmund would have missed Gündogan (about that.....), Hummels (well...) and Reus today, the team would still be way better equipped.
I also would love to hear what was so wrong with their planning going into the season.
They went into the season with the following players:
Hummels - Extremely important not only by leading the defense but also in build up play - currently injured (until 2nd season half)
Subotic - Hummels´ solid partner - currently injured (out for the rest of the season)
Sokratis - qualitiy defender, can play both CB and RB, best Dortmund player today
Sarr - one of Germany´s biggest CB talents - was injured for six weeks and thrown back in his development
Günter - another highly regarded CB talent - missed most of the pre season, had several minor injuries
Schmelzer - solid and consistent LB - currently injured (until mid december)
Piszczek - one of the best RB in the world - was injured the whole season until making his comeback today in the last minutes
Durm - former striker transformed into FB, performed very well when needed, can play both LB and RB
Großkreutz - Klopp´s swiss pocket knife, one of the best Dortmund players in the season, can play both RB and LB
So, they have 5 CB´s and 4 FB´s, whom two can play both sides. On top of that they have Bender, who also plays a damn decent CB, but was needed today in his normal position because their second DM just came back from a 6 weeks long injury and has no play rythm.
They currently have a highly unlikely horror scenario. This is not only about the current injuries, but also about the fact that two of their three talents were thrown back in their development because of injuries. Normally either Sarr or Günter would have had the game of their careers today, but had no play rythm.
How many clubs in the world can carry such a concentrated and huge weight and still be able to stand against a team like Bayern (even with their injured players)? A handful and if I look at their wage bills, they easily double Dortmund´s. You don´t join them to sit on the bench, get payed a lot and play in a highly unlikely scenario. You go their to have a good chance to make it there.