Hakimi’s failure against the big teams casts doubt on suitability of Real Madrid return

Whether in front of a crowd or in a void steel forest ringing with echoes, Bayern Munich’s hold on Borussia Dortmund remains absolute; on Tuesday, their grip on the Meisterschale grew even tighter.

Joshua Kimmich decided what was, for the most part, an extravaganza of a game with the most delicate of chips just before the break. However, for all its relentless and its pounding tempo, there were few real standouts: none of the attackers, on either side, did themselves justice. It was a great game somehow made up of underwhelming individual performances.

Even the coming together of two of Europe’s finest young full-backs, an intriguing sub-plot before the commencement of proceedings, failed to fire. Alphonso Davies vs Achraf Hakimi had the potential to be a duel worth the price of admission by itself. However, the touch paper was never actually lit.

A coming together as early as the second minute set the tone: Davies received the ball, sought to advance, and Hakimi simply nipped and stopped the Canada international in his tracks. The Moroccan won some battles in direct confrontations, but the victories were sparse and, as such, not pivotal enough to the overall outcome.

Davies is a different level to every full back itw.
His acceleration, body strength, speed, technical abilities – incredible.

Look how simple he outplayed Hakimi and Haaland in the first minutes. pic.twitter.com/kJMcH1hxTl

— Shemsi (@handsome_SZN) May 26, 2020

It did not help that, on the ball, Hakimi was far from his sparkling best. Of the Dortmund outfielders, he had the third lowest passing accuracy, he was only successful in one of five dribbles, and assisted no shots.

While the home side’s inability to consistently fashion openings despite taking up promising positions and switching the play brilliantly was down to more than him alone, he was very much a part of the general laxity in advanced positions.

On the defensive side of things, the 21-year-old again betrayed some naivety in notable circumstances in both halves.

In the first, he headed an innocuous cross back into traffic at the top of the box, leading to a rasping effort which Roman Burki needed to beat away. In the second, following a Burki save down low from Goretzka, Hakimi’s laxity with the rebound was seized upon by Bayern to sustain pressure and fashion another opening immediately.

This was the portrait of a player with potentially damaging flaws, the Hyde to the dexterous, dangerous Jekyll (or is it the other way around?) that has frequently terrorized defences over the past two seasons at Westphalia. The wing-back admitted last season that manager Lucien Favre was requiring greater defensive output from him.

Today proved that Hakimi is not better then Trent pic.twitter.com/Eta1Ar50IC

— Hammers_central (@CentralHammers) May 26, 2020

However, on this showing against the champions-elect, it would not be a stretch to suggest that Dortmund’s move to a back three was as much a sign of surrender in that regard as it was about unleashing the Real Madrid loanee.

The concern is that it is in precisely these sort of matches – against the creme of the league – that he has posted some of his less invigorated performances. Against Bayern, Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig, teams willing and able to go toe-to-toe with Dortmund, the quality of his output has been a lot more variable than it is against the lesser lights who are perhaps content to simply be obstinate for as long as possible.

There is an irony here: top sides face the latter category of opponent more often; however, they frequently base their recruitment around preparing for the former. This feeds into the bigger question around Hakimi once this season wraps up: where will he be come the start of the new season?

With his loan coming to an end, there are two avenues open to him. He can either return to Real, where he will compete with Dani Carvajal for a place in the starting lineup, or he can seek a move elsewhere.

Considering the first option, it is difficult to make the case that would lead to a favourable outcome for either party. Zidane’s managerial focus is very much on the collective and on creating a workmanlike team with enough quality to make the difference ultimately, rather than on the individual. However, Hakimi’s hang-ups are not so much physical as tactical, and to plug him into the Real set-up as is would be to severely stymie him.

There is also a question of profile, in that the Moroccan simply does not have the level of influence to warrant having the team’s entire play slanted toward him in the same way that, say, Marcelo was able to at his peak. He could, in time and with experience, justify it, however.

At the moment though, and on the evidence of Tuesday, unless it’s within a framework that lets him loose, he simply is not ready for that heave just yet.