On Tuesday night the UEFA Champions League anthem will be played for the 15th time at Signal Iduna Park since Borussia Dortmund’s return to Europe’s elite competition in September 2011. In this period, only at the Nou Camp in Barcelona (17), the Alianz Arena in Munich and Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (both 18) this anthem, mixed with elements from three languages and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992, has been played more often.

Borussia Dortmund have been regular qualifiers to the UEFA Champions League since 2011, an unparalled consistency in the club’s history. “We are taking part in the football’s elite competition for the fourth year in a row. And for the third time we are having a home game against Arsenal FC,” club chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke told BVB’s matchday programme “Echt”, adding: “But neither the games against this London team nor the Champions League have become a matter of routine. Tonight’s match is and will remain a feast of football, one we have been looking forward to with great anticipation since April 8th and the great game against Real Madrid and our very unfortunate exit from this competition.”

The people in charge at the club deserve the credit for this continuity. They let the coach and the team do their job, knowing that consistency is essential for success. It is not without reason that Tuesday’s match will be Jürgen Klopp’s 274th in charge of BVB – more than any other coach in the history of the club.

The Black and Yellows will have a tough job on their hands on Tuesday as Arsenal are Champions League regulars, taking part in this competition for the 17th time in a row, with Galatasaray  and RSC Anderlecht completing Group D.

Watzke: “A feast of football“

Asked by UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino after the draw on 29 August if he could still show his face in Dortmund, Karl-Heinz Riedle – a double scorer in the 1997 final and the ambassador for the 2015 final in Berlin - gave a confirming nod. Because unlike in 2012 when the champions of Spain, England, Germany and the Netherlands were drawn into one group or in 2013 when Napoli were knocked out of the Champions League despite finishing with 12 points from their group, Borussia Dortmund have been handed a tough but manageable task.

So, for at least three times this season at Signal Iduna Park it will be (in the three languages French, German and English): ce sont les meilleurs, sie sind die Besten, these are the champions – die Meister, die Besten, les grandes équipes, the champions!