Fortuna Dusseldorf is making its move

Chuck Smith
Jan 23, 2019
2 min read

A doormat for the early part of the Hinrunde, Fortuna Dusseldorf looks like it might have turned a corner in its return to the Bundesliga's first division. For a team striving to have another season playing against the likes of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, and others, the timing could not be better.

Fortuna has experienced a major rebound after winning only one of their first 10 Bundesliga matches. Dusseldorf has won four straight league games including victories over SC Freiburg, Hannover 96, and FC Augsburg -- all respectable Bundesliga clubs -- along with a terrific 2-1 triumph over league leaders Borussia Dortmund on December 18th. While the other wins were solid, the Dortmund game is where it could be seen that F95 was poised to make a push at becoming more than just a one-year flash in the pan in the first division.

In addition to the aforementioned wins, F95 also has taken both Bayern and Leipzig to hard-fought draws. There is something with this Dusseldorf squad and now the rest of the Bundesliga is finding out just how formidable F95 can be.

Friedhelm Funkel has done a superb job of not letting his team fall into the same trap that FC Nurnberg has during each team's first year back in the top flight. Even when things looked bleak, Funkel has managed to find a way to keep his team focused on re-grouping and making a run to save its season.

As of now, Funkel's strategies and personnel management have been a huge key to keeping Fortuna afloat.

Another big reason for Dusseldorf's resurgence is 21-year-old Belgian forward Dodi Lukebakio, who is on loan from Watford. Lukebakio has been among the catalysts for Fortuna Dusseldorf. With seven goals and three assists across all competitions, Lukebakio has provided a dangerous element to the Dusseldorf attack. Always poised to lead a counter attack, Lukebakio has proven to have a deft goal-scoring touch, along with the ability to raise his level of play in key moments that has had a trickle down effect on his teammates.

Among the other key contributors for F95 have been Niko Giesselmann, Matthias Zimmermann, Rouwen Hennings, Benito Raman, and goalkeeper Michael Rensing, who has quietly been stellar.

F95 has four key matches upcoming against Leipzig, Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart, and Bayer Leverkusen, not to mention an important DFB-Pokal fixture against Schalke. Over this stretch, we should get an even better idea on how far Fortuna has progressed since its early season stumbling.