Borussia Dortmund’s season is coming to a close, and we’re giving out our penultimate Player of the Month award. April was an up-and-down month for the Black and Yellows, what with a 2-2 draw against Schalke in the Revierderby and their crashing out of the UEFA Europa League against Liverpool, before they won their final four games by 14-1 goals, three of which were enough to advance to the club’s third straight DFB-Pokal final.
There were plenty of positive performances to pick from for our panel, but a clear winner emerged.
… Henrikh Mkhitaryan!
Somewhat surprisingly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan wins only his second #YWPPOTM award of the season, after he topped our inaugural rankings in August. The Armenian joins Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mats Hummels as two-time winners, and deservedly so.
Whether it’s dishing out nutmegs left, right and centre, assisting goals at will or scoring himself, there’s truly nothing Mkhitaryan can’t do.
In April alone, he found the net three times himself and put the ball on a plate for his team-mates a whopping eight times, as the Armenian was involved in at least one goal in each of his seven appearances across competitions. It’s hard to choose his best game of the month, there were so many excellent ones.
The 27-year-old is producing a historically great season, and April was the continuation of his tremendous form.
Now just extend your goddamn contract!
Hall of Fame
August 2015: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
September 2015: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
October 2015: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
November 2015: Gonzalo Castro
December 2015/January 2016: Mats Hummels
February 2016: Mats Hummels
March 2016: Julian Weigl
The Votes
Christina
First Place: Adrian Ramos
Second Place: Shinji Kagawa
Third Place: Christian Pulisic // Seventeen-years-old with two goals in the month of April, making him the youngest player in Bundesliga history to do so.
Constantin
First Place: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Second Place: Shinji Kagawa
Third Place: Adrian Ramos
Lars
First Place: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Second Place: Shinji Kagawa
Third Place: Mats Hummels // The captain may or may not abandon his ship soon, but he was excellent throughout the month and especially in a difficult situation against Wolfsburg.
Lewis
First Place: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Second Place: Shinji Kagawa
Third Place: Christian Pulisic
Luca
First Place: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Second Place: Mats Hummels
Third Place: Adrian Ramos // While some of the games might have been rather meaningless, it’d be unfair not to acknowledge how good Adrian Ramos has been doing lately. He doesn’t seem to stop scoring and assisting while providing some good link up play as well.
Mark
First Place: Shinji Kagawa // Kagawa’s found himself back in Tuchel’s favor and in form, as he contributed 4 goals and 2 assists in April. Numerous strong performances throughout the month, especially against Wolfsburg and Schalke earn him my nomination. That cheeky chip against Schalke itself is worthy of an award.
Second Place: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Third Place: Mats Hummels
Stefan
First Place: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Second Place: Mats Hummels
Third Place: Marcel Schmelzer // Schmelzer is playing the season of his career and April looked like one of his very best months. He picked up 2 of 4 Bundesliga assists in April and played extremely well in the semi-final against Hertha BSC.
Tom
First Place: Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Second Place: Christian Pulisic
Third Place: Adrian Ramos
As always, we asked you who should win on our Twitter page. Here are a few of your answers:
@Yellowwallpod Not even close: Magictaryan
— BVB Kansas (@BVBKansas) May 6, 2016
@Yellowwallpod miki or adrian ramos
— lixo humano d+ (@matzeginters) May 6, 2016
@Yellowwallpod Miki ofc. Schmelzer has been great too.
— Hugo Sundman (@broderHugo) May 6, 2016
@Yellowwallpod Mkhitaryan or Pulisic
— James (@ItsVickerzLLHTW) May 6, 2016
@Yellowwallpod https://t.co/eJXkkVogZe
— Florian (@FloTo09) May 6, 2016
