Galatasaray vs. Borussia Dortmund: Lessons Learned from Champions League Game

Borussia Dortmund kept up their unbeaten start to the Champions League this season with a confident 4-0 win away at Galatasaray.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was teed up twice in the opening 20 minutes to put the visitors in front. Marco Reus then struck a superb long-range effort to make it 3-0 before the break. Substitute Adrian Ramos completed the scoring on the 83rd minute.

The result means Dortmund stay top of Group D, while Galatasaray remain at the bottom on goal difference (Arsenal's late 2-1 win over Anderlecht keeps them second in the table).

Read on for some things learned from Wednesday's clash at the Turk Telekom Arena.

Borussia Dortmund's poor start to their 2014-15 Bundesliga campaign continued this past weekend with a 2-1 loss to Cologne. It left them with just seven points from eight games, placing them 14th in the table.

While the club's chief executive officer Hans-Joachim Watzke scoffed at the notion, it was still fascinating that talk of Klopp resigning from his job even emerged.

"I have always said that it's up to our coach to decide when his time at BVB has come to an end," Watzke told Bild, via ESPN FC's Stephan Uersfeld. "It will stay like that. He is not tired of office, not even for a second; he has the same energy like on his first day."

The CEO sensibly pointed out this was the "first real sporting crisis" in the tenure of the manager who won them the 2011 and 2012 German titles and took them to the 2013 Champions League Final.

Dortmund have not suffered the same form problems in Europe so far this season. Nonetheless, the ease with which they saw off Galatasaray was a further reminder there is still life in Klopp's methods yet.

His team brimmed with energy in the first half, closing down the Turkish side at every turn and pulling them apart with speed and precision passing.

There are obviously bigger issues with the black and yellows right now—fitness problems and the process of successfully integrating new and returning players. Klopp deserves the time to see things right, though, and positively, it seems like he will get it.

One shot on target from Galatasaray—as recorded by BBC Sport—speaks of the impotency of their attacking work on Wednesday. As ineffective as they were for the majority of the match, it was in part because Borussia Dortmund were organised and on song.

Against Cologne last Saturday, BVB were bereft of leadership at the back. It was best typified by Simon Zoller's second for the home team, which saw Roman Weidenfeller come rushing out of goal to defend a ball his defenders were failing to act upon.

He did not.

The first was not much better, with Cologne seizing on a ball allowed to run loose by the Dortmund midfield, from which an unmarked Kevin Vogt promptly gave them the lead.

On Wednesday they defended well from the front, and when Galatasaray did get further, BVB stopped them in their tracks.

Weidenfeller better judged the moments he came off his line. On one occasion on the 28th minute when Burak Yilmaz broke their offside trap, Neven Subotic was alert enough to recover with a sliding tackle.

Right-back Lukasz Piszczek was caught out a few times by the speed of Alex Telles, who would fire in a couple of promising crosses. Mostly, though, Dortmund dealt well with what they needed to.

It was necessary after this past weekend's errors, and it is a performance they can build on by maintaining a similar standard.

They will need to start versus Hannover on Saturday. They face the irrepressible force of old foes Bayern Munich the weekend after.

Pep Guardiola's side beat Roma 7-1 on Tuesday and have come a long way already since they were beaten 2-0 by Dortmund in the German Super Cup.

The most impressive Galatasaray performance of the night came from their fans prior to the game, when they erected this massive display:

Impressive stuff at Anfield, but the battle of the tifos has once again been won by @GalatasaraySK (Via @tribundergi) pic.twitter.com/3Gv1C6iFxw

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) October 22, 2014

Except for positive runs from the full-back Telles and some good saves from Fernando Muslera, there was very little of note to praise from Galatasaray.

Besides Cesare Prandelli replacing Roberto Mancini as manager, not a whole lot has changed personnel-wise at the Istanbul club from the side who reached the last 16 of the 2013-14 Champions League.

Reported debts of 200 million euros from kicker, via ESPN FC's Stephen Uersfeld, have caused problems paying Wesley Sneijder's wages. But that is not a totally new problem.

Whatever is going on, the side that beat Juventus and drew with Chelsea were barely in evidence this week.

They were a shambles defensively, with Aurelien Chedjou negligent of Aubameyang on the striker's second goal. Meanwhile, his partner Semih Kaya was run ragged by Reus, Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

In fairness, they had little support from Felipe Melo and the midfield. Hamit Altintop, Selcuk Inan and Sneijder barely created anything of note for the front two of Yilmaz and Goran Pandev all night.

These problems were evident in Galatasaray's loss 4-1 loss to Arsenal, but they hoped for more on their return home. "Playing against a team like Borussia Dortmund, who have brought an innovative style to Europe, could be a significant source of motivation," assistant coach Gabriele Pin said before the match, via UEFA.com's Turker Tozar.

It did not look anything of the sort.