A humiliating thrashing at home by newly-promoted VfB Stuttgart on Saturday, leaving them fifth in the Bundesliga, have seen Borussia Dortmund parting ways with manager Lucien Favre.
Appointed Dortmund boss in May 2018, Favre had led the club in back-to-back second-place finishes in the Bundesliga. However, the Westfalenstadion club began the season poorly and are now lodged fifth in the league with just six wins from their opening 11 games, leaving them five points adrift of league-leaders Bayern Munich.
Dortmund was handed a humiliating 5-1 trouncing in their most-recent rumble at home by Stuttgart, who won promotion to the Bundesliga last season.
After the run of one win in five games under Favre, Dortmund chiefs reckoned they had seen enough from the manager and gave him his marching papers on Sunday morning.
Favre had previously occupied the hot seat at Hertha Berlin, Borussia Monchengladbach and Nice, and gave a damning assessment of his side’s display after they conceded four goals in the second half.
“It was a catastrophe. It was bad. We were not good at winning the ball. We made too many big mistakes. It’s hard to explain,” he said after the final whistle.
“If you’re not good at winning the ball, by that I mean the whole team, then you have a problem,” said Favre after the game.
“Stuttgart played well, but we were very, very bad. You can’t do that. Stuttgart played well in the first half, but we made it 1-1.
“Still, we wanted to do better in the second half. We get a very stupid goal. That worried the team. We were not there today.”