The curtain comes down on a wonderful career as goalkeeping legend Roman Weidenfeller is given one last, deafening round of applause by the 70,109 fans at his farewell game. The shot-stopper, who won two Bundesliga titles and two DFB Cups with Borussia Dortmund and played a major role in helping the club reach the 2013 Champions League final, ends on the winning side as his "Roman & Friends" team run out 4-1 victors.

The senior side win four and draw one of the five matches they play in the 15 days that follow the first international break of the season. That run begins with a hard-fought but deserved home victory over a compact Eintracht Frankfurt side, whose 68th-minute equaliser through Haller against the run of play cancels out Abdou Diallo's 36th-minute opener for the Black & Yellows following a corner-kick. But Lucien Favre's charges respond in style with Marius Wolf sweeping home a Jadon Sancho cross only four minutes later to make it 2-1, before Paco Alcácer adds another to put the game out of reach in the dying seconds. In doing so, the Spain striker emulates former BVB legends Marcio Amoroso and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang by scoring with his very first shot on goal.

That clash is followed by another hard-fought victory over Club Bruges in the Champions League. BVB are totally dominant aside from a spell midway through the first half but offer little going forward and it is the hosts who have the vast majority of the chances. Fortunately, though, Lucien Favre makes the right call from the sidelines and introduces Christian Pulisic, who scores an extremely fortuitous late winner that is deflected in off an opposing defender. "The coach told me to come on and score a goal. It was a super day for me: it was my 20th birthday, I scored a goal and we won the game," says the young American.

Next up is a Bundesliga clash with TSG Hoffenheim, a direct rival for the Champions League places. Despite being controversially reduced to 10 men after Diallo is given his marching orders and subsequently falling behind when Joelinton fires the home side on front, the Black & Yellows fight back and eventually level the score six minutes from time when Pulisic sweeps home a cross from Marco Reus.

The critics who question the attacking prowess of the Black & Yellows in the days that follow that stalemate in Sinsheim are soon silenced as 1. FC Nuremberg are swept aside by an incredible 7-0 scoreline. The victory, which is the biggest Borussia Dortmund have had in 32 years, comes courtesy of goals from Reus, who scores for BVB for the 99th and 100th times, and first-time scorers Jacob Bruun Larsen, Achraf Hakimi and Manuel Akanji. The other players on the scoresheet are substitutes Jadon Sancho and Julian Weigl.

There are more landmark moments in the next outing as Borussia Dortmund return to the top of the table with a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over Bayer Leverkusen. It is the first time since 1982 that BVB have won a game after being 2-0 down at half-time. The fightback begins when Bruun Larsen slots home in the 65th minute to make it 2-1, before Reus rounds off a sweeping counter-attack that lasts 14 seconds from box to box to draw level. But the Black & Yellows refuse to settle for a point and take the lead for the first time on the night when substitute Alcácer bundles home a Hakimi cross to make it 3-2 with five minutes to go. The Spaniard then slots into an empty net to make it 4-2 in second-half stoppage time. "From 2-0 down to 4-2 up. That's quite something," says a beaming Favre.

The German Football Association (DFB) win the right to hosts the EURO 2024 finals., with Signal Iduna Park among the 10 hosts venues for the tournament. Dr. Reinhard Rauball announces that he will not stand for re-election as DFL President in August 2019. Rauball, who has held the role since 2007, says: "My decision relates exclusively to my role with the DFL and not to my future with Borussia Dortmund."
Boris Rupert