I thought of this headline Wednesday at what I have to imagine was the same time as probably at least 10 million other people around the world.

And while Lewandowski was brilliant–none of his three non-penalty goals were simple–I don’t think giving Lewandowski all the credit really begins to explain just what Dortmund did to Real Madrid.

It’s true, Lewandsowski’s three goals from open play demonstrate clearly that Real’s centerbacks were overwhelmed in dealing with him. It’s easy enough to heap criticism on them, but Lewandowski has 23 goals in 27 games in the Bundesliga this season and had six in the Champions League before Wednesday. He’s at the top of his form, and I can think of few if any centerback pairings that could hold him in check.

But in attack Lewandowski operates as a pure striker, which means that he primarily does his work in the box. To excel in this role requires an extremely deft touch, supreme quickness and otherworldly reaction times. This suggests a couple of things:

1. At 24-years-old, he’s probably at or very near his career peak. Quickness peaks early and is one of the first attributes to decline. (From that perspective, Dortmund should probably be considering cashing in.)
2. He is highly dependent on the quality of service he receives. Clearly he can pounce on half-chances, as he did for both the second and third goals Wednesday, but to do so, someone needs to first //get// those chances. And it was there that Dortmund really shone.

The attacking midfield three, Marco Reus, Mario Götze, and Jakub Blaszczykowski, left the other four Real defenders completely at sea. Götze’s cross from the left for the first goal was impeccable and clearly untroubled by Sergio Ramos’ attempt at defending. But it was what Reus, Götze and Blaszczykowski did to Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira that was most amazing. There was a shot of Alonso and Khedira sometime in the second half in which both of them had their mouths open, presumably panting, with a look of near-panic in their eyes. Reus’, Götze’s and Blaszczykowski’s motion through the midfield, along with the attacking support provided by Sven Bender and, especially, Ilkay Gündogan, left Khedira and Alonso totally overwhelmed. By dominating that portion of the midfield, Dortmund were able to completely dominate the match.

What’s most remarkable is that, until Wednesday, I probably would have said that Alonso and Khedira were the top defensive midfield pairing of any team playing the 4-2-3-1 that’s become so popular since the 2010 World Cup. After Wednesday, I’m not so sure. It’s possible that the torch has been passed either to Bender and Gündogan or Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martínez. It’s also possible that currently no midfield in the world that can stop the attacking brilliance on display from Dortmund Wednesday and Bayern Munich the day before. We’ll know if that’s the case, assuming we end up with a Munich-Dortmund final, if the score is something like 5-4. And if that’s the case, then we have, also, seen the beginning of the end of the 4-2-3-1, because someone out there right now has set his mind to figuring out how to solve the problem that Jose Mourinho, supposedly one of the greatest tactical minds in modern soccer, so totally failed to solve in Dortmund on Wednesday.