A look at the basic boxscore for Borussia Dortmund's 3-0 Revierderby win looks pretty horrible for Schalke 04. They attempted just three shots, hitting the target with none of them, while Dortmund took 31, putting 13 on target. Dortmund didn't score until the 78th minute, but they were in no way unlucky to score three goals in the last 12 minutes.
Schalke basically stood around and let Dortmund do whatever they wanted
Their forwards might as well have been scarecrows.
Lars Baron/Getty Images
Schalke probably would not have been worse off if their midfielders and attackers literally stood still and made no attempt to do anything at all. This shot chart with Expected Goals, from our own Michael Caley, illustrates just how little Schalke did going forward.
All of those squares represent shots. The bigger the square, the more likely that shot is to lead to a goal. The shot in the top-right corner is possibly the lowest-percentage shot a team can attempt within 40 yards of their own goal.
Games at this level in which one team has one-tenth of an expected goal are not common, but it has been pretty common this season for Dortmund to have much better stats than their opponent, only to lose. For a while, this was looking like the most outrageous one of the bunch -- Dortmund went 78 minutes without taking the lead even though their opponents made basically no attempt to score a goal or prevent them from creating quality shots. Schalke were a glorified pub team on Saturday, and they got way closer to snagging a 0-0 draw than they had any business doing.
If Dortmund's luck has finally turned around, the Bundesliga is about to get very fun. Der BVB are now up to 9th place after their fourth consecutive win, eight points behind the final Champions League qualifying spot currently occupied by Bayer Leverkusen.
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