Borussia phenomenon: carried by extraordinary Fans

One of the most impressive and furious fightbacks in football history came to a close with this game, where Borussia showed especially in the first half exactly what they have been about in the past seven years and what their opponents in the Bundesliga and in Europe have come to fear on a regular basis. Very strong pressing, lightning quick counter attacks, clever play and a ruthless streak in front of goal – Borussia showed all of this in the first half and they made sure that the opponent had to virtually give up hope after the first 45 minutes.

This was a God send for the fans, who were very emotional anyway after the departure of two such great club legends in Jürgen Klopp and Sebastian Kehl. The chants through the SIGNAL IDUNA PARK echoed “European Cup, European Cup.” Just like five years ago, when BVB first made it back into Europe after being in limbo for years on end. The Südtribüne (South Stand) sang after the game: “and if you lose the game, you’re right at the bottom, then we will stand here and sing Borussia, Borussia BVB.” Just like after the bitter defeats against Hamburg and Hanover in the first half of the season, when the temporary downfall of the Westphalia club into the nether regions of the league table was slowly turning into reality.

A circle that is closing

It looked like a circle was about to close. “The phenomenon Borussia Dortmund. It was obvious for all to see on this Saturday. And you could not miss hearing it!” Seven and a half months ago after their unique pledge of loyalty, the Südtribüne (South Stand) showed their team after the 0-1 defeat against Hamburg in October the way it is. And you could also not have expressed it in a better way on this Saturday. Borussia Dortmund is a club that is carried by extraordinary fans.

At the end of a “screwed up season”, as Kehl described it, BVB is in seventh place. Just back at the start of February no BVB fan would have imagined this. Just one single time, after the 0-1 against Augsburg on match day 19 did Jürgen Klopp’s team have to put up with some whistles from the crowd. They were bottom of the table. A wake-up call.

After that the Black Yellows won twice as many points (31) as in the whole first half of the season (15). In the table for ‘the second half of the season’ BVB is in fifth place, just three points behind Bayern Munich. An upsurge in fortunes that was also very influenced by players like Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Shinji Kagawa. Just to prove this, both of them performed brilliantly against Bremen. Mkhitaryan was the main man for all the attacking moves, he was involved in 13 shots on goal and he crowned his performance with a superb goal. He took the ball perfectly, and his shot was world class – you can’t do much better. And Kagawa was nearly just as good. The Japanese striker was directly involved in all three goals, this was the first time he managed something like this since he came back from Manchester.

The icing on the cake can follow

After the game Jürgen Klopp commented appropriately „a Bundesliga season that was far too tense and exciting for us comes to an end. We’re in seventh place. I can live with that very well today.” Sebastian Kehl added: “after the terrible first half of the season, we tried to get everything we could from this season. I am thankful and proud to end the season on such a positive note.” However the season isn’t quite over yet. The bonus is yet to come next week in Berlin. In the Cup Final. Sebastian Kehl said: “that would be the icing on the cake.”

Dennis-Julian Gottschlich