A defining trait of Julian Brandt is his hard-to-shake optimism. The professional footballer from Borussia Dortmund laughs often and happily; he never appears worried or even depressed, at least not in public. So it is no wonder that the Bremen native speaks of a "great opportunity" and not of a "great opportunity" before his team's Champions League game at Sporting Lisbon this Wednesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and at DAZN) The dangers that this evening harbors for his club. "This is a good opportunity for us," he says of the duel at Estádio José Alvalade XXI, "and I think we can go there with a lot of confidence."

This is how you can see it: With a win at the Portuguese champions, BVB would have qualified early for the round of 16 of the Champions League and would have achieved a first goal of the season.

A draw would also be okay, in which case Dortmund could secure second place with a win in the home game against Besiktas Istanbul in December on their own.

Less confident members of the club will look forward to the game in Portugal with a good dose of fear.

Because with a defeat by one goal difference, the chances of getting into the knockout phase would be minimal, and should coach Marco Rose's team lose more, the end would even be certain.

Continuous shape improvement

So Dortmund are playing their most important game of the season so far, and Brandt's self-confidence is good for that. Especially since the (vaccinated) offensive colleague Thorgan Hazard tested positive for the corona virus on Monday and is now in quarantine. Brandt, on the other hand, has already passed his infection and is on the way to continuous improvement in shape. Not only because Erling Haaland and Giovanni Reyna have been absent for weeks, Brandt has always been in the starting line-up in the ten competitive games since the seventh Bundesliga matchday and has shown increasingly strong performances. He even returned to the national team in November.

It is about time, too, many Dortmunders will say.

Because in the almost two and a half years since the offensive player moved from Leverkusen to the Revier for 25 million euros, he has rarely been able to meet expectations.

Brandt's great talent has been celebrated many times, but he is now 25 years old.

In careers that have gone well, such highly gifted people mature into stable sizes, this process stalled at Brandt.

A few weeks ago Rose demanded “consistency, sustainability, seriousness” from the national player and wished for more of these special “moments that Julian can bring to a team again and again”.

Rose believes in his player, and the coach's system of multiple central attacking midfield positions suits Brandt.

However, the development continues to be clouded by lost tackles and the loss of the ball by Brandt, which all too regularly lead to dangerous situations in front of his own goal.

At such moments, his positive manner and optimism seem to turn into dangerous carelessness.

Why a clever player like Brandt finds it so difficult to make the right decisions at this level remains a mystery, especially since he has already been better.

The reference is still Brandt's magical time at the side of his friend Kai Havertz at Bayer Leverkusen in the 2018/2019 season.

Potential to solve the main problem

Back then, the two were really talents who seemed to understand each other blindly, even when switching to the defensive. That year Brandt scored seven goals and prepared 14 goals in the Bundesliga. At BVB he scored three times in his best year in the Bundesliga and made eight assists, so his place in the national team was consequently lost. He was not allowed to drive to the EM last summer.

"Certainly the last two years have been very turbulent with good phases and also with a bad season last year," said Brandt before the 4-0 draw at Ajax Amsterdam in October. Confidence suffered and pressure from club leaders increased. “I expect an increase in performance from him. And that he uses this potential continuously, ”said sports director Michael Zorc in the summer of the Bild newspaper about the somewhat puzzling professional.

Because in the eyes of many observers, Brandt basically has the potential to make a decisive contribution to solving the main problem in this phase of the season in Dortmund. The results are okay, but Rose noted last weekend that he and his team were "still far from satisfied in some areas". What was meant was the mixed quality of the combination game, which has been too imprecise for weeks.

"We are currently still having a hard time creating good chances, really good chances," Brandt said recently after the arduous 2-1 win against VfB Stuttgart.

“We have to get to the gate even more purposefully with the staff we have.

That was a slight self-criticism, because creating opportunities is one of his most important tasks on the pitch.

But Rose's work is also measured more and more by the playful development of his team, and Julian Brandt is an important factor in this process.