The greatest win ever!
One of the greatest derbies of all time! A comeback after being 3-0 down. A ref that should have stayed in bed. An atmosphere that gave you shivers all the way down your spine. A coach that can't stand the pressure of watching the deceisive penalty. A 3-3 win. A day to remember for a long time. Read how it all unfolded:
Waiting for 15.30h
Walking down Westenhellweg early on Saturday. "Are we gonna win it?", the lad asks looking up from his coffee "No damm question", the reply. It's derby time. Dortmund's market square is alighted with black and yellow jerseys. We are in it together. The main street leading up to Westfalenstadium wears our colours with pride. You got the odd fan from the other side. Greeted with ignorance and hate. A colourful mixture that will follow you down over the B1 bridge. "You ain't never gonna lift the trophy" three boys shout when two second choices climb up over the B1 highway. It's half past one now. Two hours to kick off.
In front of Rote Erde, our old ground, fans of both clubs keep seperated on both sides of the road. Situated inbetween the troops and guarded by some 50 policemen we follow the skirmishes with interest. Best one of them when all of a sudden a few kids all dressed in black storm past us, followed by police and some old skool hooligans in their low key outfits armed with umbrellas. A few minutes later Schalke's team coach crawling through the masses receives a warm welcome by the black and yellows. Jermaine Jones, the back row kid, stands up and gives us the one finger salute. Wasn't he the guy that had already signed with an international top-club, the guy leading the German team to Vienna this summer? It's time to enter the holy ground.
Inside a few kids have already decided to take a nap, too much excitement mounting in too many beers. One hour until showtime. "Der Wolf", a one hit wonder during the 90s, sports his latest outfit, the old guys accompaning him look misplaced but nevermind he will leave the stage early enough to make room for the protagonists of this story.
First half
Ralf Fährmann, Schalke's third goalie, replaces Schober and Neuer who are both injured. Mascot Gerald "Wobbling Pig" Asamoah also finds his place in their starting eleven with Farfan making his league debut. Rutten opts for his standard 4-3-3. On our side Klopp brings in last-minute-transfer Lee for Schmelzer and Weidenfeller makes his comeback after his self-inflicted wound against Leverkusen. "May the better team win, hence Borussia", Norbert Dickel shouts through his mic. Lutz Wagner, our "referee" for the day, blows his whistle. The match is on it's way. After just four minutes Kuba storms past two Schalke players his cross finds Zidan on the left side of the box but instead of finishing off he fritters away the ball too easily. Just two minutes later Westermann, playing as the holding midfielder again, misses Schalke's first chance. A solid start to the game. The first highlight to follow within a few minutes. Somewhere near the half way line Hajnal jumps into Asamoah and the ball. While the ball crosses the side line, Mr Wobbling Pig falls dead. As always when it's derby time. And Wagner awards his first yellow card of the match to Hajnal. Some turns later Cry-boy Kevin Kuranyi claims a penalty when after an obscure situation the ball hit Subotic's hand. Farfan scores. It's 1-0 after 20. Borussia not shocked by the goal but by Wagner's freakness now looses control over the match. And Rat Rafinha is allowed to stay on the field after a clear assault against Valdez on the side-line. His only punishment: A laughable yellow card. The black and yellow boys however find no way past Schalke's defense. Bordon plays an impressive game so far. And when Kringe enters the box after 38min it's Bordon that straddles into the ball. His pass finds Westermann who makes Kehl, who is still out of form and plays a super nervous match with a lot of passes into the wide open, look like a school boy. Eventually Rafinha gets a chance to shoot from five meters and manages to get the ball past Weidenfeller and into the long end of the goal. It's 2-0 after 38 and shortly after it's half time!
45 min - 63 min
"We need to bring on Frei for Zidan, the only way to turn the match" is the common opinion under the stands. And once everybody is back to see the second half both of them are fielded. Nelson Valdez stayed inside the locker room with a minor injury. He will be fit to play Udinese Calcio on Thursday night. And Alex Frei steams onto the pitch. Within a few minutes he was the leading force in our game but before his magic 30 minutes lays more disappointment. A long cross inside the box fiends Kuranyi and Weidenfeller, who can only clear towards the empty net, Westermann jumps higher than Subotic and it's 3-0. A roaring north stand and silence on our Südtribüne. Zidan then finds Fährmann's foot from 12meters and the game seems to finally find a bitter end when Kuranyi has his open net chance. Of course with him being Kuranyi he manages to get the ball past the right side of the post and thank god for creating a figure like Kuranyi it's still "only" 3-0 to the second choices. 
64min - 90min
After Klimowicz is brought on for Zidan, who's farewell is accompanied by crestfallen whistles from the stands, enter Alex Frei. One of many corners starts off with two balls on the field. Frei sprints and kicks the second ball off the ground, turns around and even from some 40 meters you can see his eyes sparked with overwhelming will. His corner reaches Subotic who heads the ball into the net. Suddenly we are only 3-1 down and we still got 24 minutes plus extra time. Hajnal who did not show his skills today is replaced by Tinga, who's comeback has been long awaited. And of course he does not prove us wrong a great pass through Schalke's defense reaches Frei who takes a few steps away from the goal and unpacks an unbelievable shot into the corner of the net. As TV pictures later show Frei apparently is offside first but nevermind: It's derby time! A mighty roar inside the stadium. And Frei celebrates his goal signalizing "this is so hot. I am on fire". Unleashed Südtribüne and the sorrounding cornes lash Borussia towards the goal. And Mc Funky Pee aka Christian Pander gets booked for the second time only a few seconds later Rafinha begs for his second yellow card and is again denied by Wagner. He has to stay on the pitch. His pal Fabian Ernst however slides into Kuba like there is no tomorrow and even Wagner can't do nothing about it. He hands him his papers and sends him off. With more than 15 minutes to go we are only one down but two players up. Somehow however the second choices flock together in their box and seem to withstand our pressure. Klimo misses from short distance and we have only four minutes left. All of a sudden Wagner points to the spot. Kuba had just headed a ball towards Krstajic who touched the ball with his hand or sort of touched the ball with his hand. Some two minutes of discussions later Frei sends Fährmann into the wrong corner and the ball all the way into the net. Borussia 3 Schalke 3. And we still have the extra time to go, so everybody but Wagner thinks. He decides to end the game after exactly 90 minutes. What a strange man he is. What an amazing game it has been! Nobody - and that is nobody - leaves the stands. "Scheiße 0-4" it roars through Westfalenstadium. Jürgen Klopp jumps up and down and not a lot of spectators are able to realize what they have just witnessed: One of the greatest derbies ever!
Way to go boys
So where does this leave us? One of the great comebacks plasters a few open construction sites within the team. Both holding midfielders, namely Kehl and Hajnal, have proven to be the weak spot in our game. Kehl misses accuracy in his passes, always looks nervous in his actions and one a weak day like Saturday also lacks in fighting spirit. Hajnal did not find his way into the match and was missing in action for most of the game. New boy Lee played a solid role as left back but playing with Kringe needs some improvement and a few more games. A lot of passes did only find the wrong end of the side-line. Zidan has not arrived in Dortmund just yet and whistling against him will not help to welcome him aboard. Weidenfeller needs a lot of match practice after having only played 1 and half league matches this calendar year. He looked bad against Rafinha's shoot and awkward when trying to clear the ball before the third goal. But the moral and fighting spirit inside the team is very much intact. With Alex Frei and Tinga back we have more options for midfield and up front. After four days into this season we already accumulated 8 points and have played highly tipped teams like Leverkusen, Bayern and Schalke. It could have started off worse. With a lot of matches still coming up in September it is good to have options for nearly every position. On Thursday Borussia welcomes Udinese Calcio for our first UEFA-Cup match in nearly five years.
Stats
BVB: Weidenfeller (4) - Rukavina (3,5), Subotic (4), Hummels (3,5), Lee (4) - Kuba (2,5), Hajnal (4,5) (66.Tinga (2)), Kehl (5), Kringe (3)- Valdez (4,5) (46. Frei (1)), Zidan (5) (64.Klimowicz (3,5))
Sch*lke: Fährmann - Rafinha, Krstajic, Bordon, Pander - Westermann, Jones, Ernst - Asamoah, Kuranyi, Farfan
Goals: 0:1 Farfan (20.), 0:2 Rafinha (39.), 0:3 Westermann (52.), 1:3 Subotic (66.), 2:3, 3:3 Alex Frei (71., 89.)
Ref: Wagner (6) - a black day for Lutz Wagner who was in no way capable of handling this Derby. Missed to sent off Rafinha twice, our second goal was offside, our penalty questionable. Ended the match after exactly 90minutes when it should have gone on our for at least five more minutes.
Yellow cards: Hajnal, Subotic - Rafinha
Yellow/Red card: Pander (73.)
Red card: Ernst (76.)
Attendance: 80.552 (sold out)
steph, 15.09.2008
