The unimaginable becomes reality

A few metres from the l'Arrivée Hotel on Wittbräucker Straße, where the team had been staying, three explosive devices containing metal pins were detonated. One such pin, which was later found embedded in a headrest on the bus, was mere centimetres away from causing disaster. As it was, Marc Bartra had to undergo surgery on his hand and arm while a policeman accompanying the team on a motorbike sustained injuries. But all things considered, that seemed to be a "lucky" escape.

The attack prompted a wave of solidarity when the rescheduled match took place the following day. Dortmund fans offered a bed for the night to stranded Monaco fans, who in turn openly displayed their affection towards the Black & Yellows. The French football magazine L'Equipe wrote: "How can this German team and its players be expected to be ready to play only 24 hours later, as if nothing had happened and they were in full possession of their faculties?" The evening got off to a nightmarish start for a team that had experienced the unimaginable only 22 hours earlier. BVB quickly fell 2-0 behind due to an offside goal and an own goal, but they showed their mettle after the break by reducing the deficit through Dembélé on 57 minutes. Monaco hit back, adding a third, before Shinji Kagawa scored Dortmund's second of the night with six minutes remaining.

Borussia quickly found themselves 2-0 down in the return leg one week later and, although Marco Reus spurred hopes of a revival by pulling one back on 46 minutes, Monaco put the result beyond doubt when Germain finished off a counter-attack in the 81st minute.

Following the arrest of a suspect, BVB were hoping for a comprehensive explanation. Speaking on behalf of the team, Marcel Schmelzer expressed his hopes "that we would find out the true reasons for the attack. For everyone who was sitting on the bus, it is important to have this information as it would make it much easier for us to come to terms with what happened."

The congested fixture list, which saw the Black & Yellows play nine times in total in April, at least offered some form of distraction. In the fortnight preceding the attack, Dortmund had shared the spoils in a 1-1 derby draw with FC Schalke 04 (scorer: Aubameyang) and suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of FC Bayern Munich (scorer: Guerreiro), although they beat Hamburger SV 3-0 courtesy of Castro, Kagawa and Aubameyang.

Just four days after the attack came a 3-1 home victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. A Marco Reus flick opened the scoring after just 120 seconds, before Fabián restored parity with an outstanding effort from 22 metres on the half-hour mark. But not wanting to be outdone, Sokratis fired an equally spectacular shot past Hradecky five minutes later to re-establish the home side's lead, before Aubameyang rounded off a textbook counter-attack to seal a 3-1 win with minutes remaining.

Next up was a trip to Mönchengladbach, where BVB came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 and move back up to third place in the Bundesliga. A Reus penalty, awarded after Dahoud had brought down Pulisic, broke the deadlock on 10 minutes, before Stindl equalised with the home side's first chance (43). A Schmelzer own goal undeservedly put the Foals 2-1 ahead in the 48th minute, but Aubameyang levelled at 2-2 just 108 seconds after coming on as a substitute (59) and Guerreiro headed in the winner with three minutes remaining.

But arguably the best moment came when Borussia won 3-2 at Bayern in the DFB Cup semi-final. Following a strong opening 25 minutes in which Reus deservedly fired the visitors in front, Bayern equalised through Martinez (29) before Hummels made it 2-1 on the stroke of half-time (41). The second period started with a heroic goal-line block by Sven Bender that kept the Black & Yellows in the game, before Aubameyang (69) and Dembélé (74) both scored in quick succession. That victory was followed by a frenetic but goalless home clash with 1. FC Köln.
Boris Rupert