There isn’t really much to be said about the game itself but so much more about everything around it. It was cold, very cold. It wasn’t pretty but a piece of hard work and at the end of the week, we found ourselves at the top of the table, having repeated once again what we had done for the last three games in a row: beating Nuremberg 2:0.
60 minutes of dominant play were enough to banish the bogey 1899 Hoffenheim, which was rumoured by the media to be Dortmunds bogey team after only two victories in the past eight matches since 2008. With 3:1 goals and Kevin Großkreutz and Shinji Kagawa as the most successful ghostbusters in this match, Borussia Dortmund continued his series of meanwhile nine matches without a defeat and strengthened its position beside the "top teams" Sch**ke 04 and Bayern Munich, which go now head to head with 40 points at the top of the championship table.
While I was writing my "looking back onto the year 2011" text, I remembered all the great moments we had during that year. And I realised that the year 2012 would have a damn hard time to be close to as great as the year 2011 had been. But it looks like the year 2012 is not satisfied to only be maybe one of the greatest years in our history, no, it is trying hard to bring us just as much joy as 2011 did- with an amazing victory against Hamburg IN Hamburg.
29, 30, 30, 27, 43, 32, 34. What sounds like yesterday's lottery numbers, is Borussia Dortmund's points at the end of each half of the season since Jürgen Klopp became head coach in 2008. This year's two points on average is a proof of extreme stability -- and a bit surprising given the problems we had in the beginning of this round. Remember: After a bitter 1-2 in Hanover on game day six, Borussia was in the middle of nowhere on the boards, having only seven points but three losses already. A series of eleven undefeated games in a row including Saturday's win in Freiburg makes the team finish second, trailing three points behind Bayern Munich. A more than satisfying end of the Bundesliga in 2011.
Borussia Dortmund failed in their attempt to come back in style from the horrible Champions League exit and wasn't able to beat 1. FC Kaiserslautern at home. Being the better side was not enough at all. After an early lead by Shinji Kagawa the Kaiserslautern boys utilized on one of their few chances and got away with one point from Westfalenstadion.
The festive weeks for the mighty BVB ended with a hard fought draw on some nameless cornfield at the Dutch border. After the match we went home towards civilization with the feeling that we could have won this. The only real Borussia was the dominant team for most of the match and our rising goal machine Robert Lewandowski finally found the net in an away game to give us the lead before the halftime break. But afterwards we missed the chances to "put the cat in the sack" as the multilingual Italian poet Giovanni Trapattoni would have put it. And so the much hated blue-scumboy Mike Hanke took the victory out of our hands. Since Buyern demolished Bremen they moved ahead of us in the table but one point behind the lead is still a great position to be in, especially since the young guns feel comfortable as challengers.
The last game of our week of truth was the most important one out of the three for a lot of Dortmundfans. Because neither Munich nor Arsenal counts when the neighbours in blue and white come to town. Time for the 139th derby! After the devastating defeat on Wednesday and the intense worries about Manni Bender and Mario Götze, one thing was even more sure than it had been the case with other derbys: This Saturday was the day to get rid of all the frustration and to beat out the shit of GE.
Okay, I have to be honest. I was very sceptical about the match in Munich and sceptical about our "week of truth" with three important matches in only seven days. But just like last season, Borussia laughed down all my scepticism, ignored it and proved me wrong. Very wrong. What we saw on Saturday was not just the third victory against Bayern Munich in a row (with two consecutive wins away), not just a match without any goals conceded against the best offense of the Bundesliga, not just a match with a goal against the best defense of the Bundesliga. It was a tactical masterpiece, a passionate, fighting performance by every Borussian who stepped on the pitch. For the second time after the match against Hamburger SV on day 1, I was remembered at last season. Borussia beat Bayern 1-0, Götze proved all his class once again and several supporters and clubs thanked us for making the fight for the place at the top interesting again.
Two weeks before the start of the most important weeks of the first half of the season, Borussia Dortmund proved that they are on a roll. The commerce club of Volkswagen Wolfsburg was no opponent for the German champion and sent home with a devastating 5-1 (2-0) defeat. Shortly before the break due to caps, we ended the last "English week" with an impressive style of play, a great choreography before the match and a nice atmosphere. Once again, it was great to go to the Westfalenstadion and see Borussia play. All in all, it was just a nice Saturday afternoon.
Borussia's series of four wins in a row ends in Stuttgart after a fair draw between the defending champions and the ones of 2007. The Swabian's lead by Serdar Taski in the 22nd minute was equalised by Lukasz Piszczek who scored in the extra time of the first half. Taking one point home, BVB dropped to third place in the Bundesliga table, but remains in a good position in the battle for next year's Champions League.
There isn’t really much to be said about the game itself but so much more about everything around it. It was cold, very cold. It wasn’t pretty but a piece of hard work and at the end of the week, we found ourselves at the top of the table, having repeated once again what we had done for the last three games in a row: beating Nuremberg 2:0.
60 minutes of dominant play were enough to banish the bogey 1899 Hoffenheim, which was rumoured by the media to be Dortmunds bogey team after only two victories in the past eight matches since 2008. With 3:1 goals and Kevin Großkreutz and Shinji Kagawa as the most successful ghostbusters in this match, Borussia Dortmund continued his series of meanwhile nine matches without a defeat and strengthened its position beside the "top teams" Sch**ke 04 and Bayern Munich, which go now head to head with 40 points at the top of the championship table. 
While I was writing my "looking back onto the year 2011" text, I remembered all the great moments we had during that year.
Borussia Dortmund failed in their attempt to come back in style from the horrible Champions League exit and wasn't able to beat 1. FC Kaiserslautern at home. Being the better side was not enough at all. After an early lead by Shinji Kagawa the Kaiserslautern boys utilized on one of their few chances and got away with one point from Westfalenstadion.
The festive weeks for the mighty BVB ended with a hard fought draw on some nameless cornfield at the Dutch border. After the match we went home towards civilization with the feeling that we could have won this. The only real Borussia was the dominant team for most of the match and our rising goal machine Robert Lewandowski finally found the net in an away game to give us the lead before the halftime break. But afterwards we missed the chances to "put the cat in the sack" as the multilingual Italian poet Giovanni Trapattoni would have put it. And so the much hated blue-scumboy Mike Hanke took the victory out of our hands. Since Buyern demolished Bremen they moved ahead of us in the table but one point behind the lead is still a great position to be in, especially since the young guns feel comfortable as challengers.
The last game of our week of truth was the most important one out of the three for a lot of Dortmundfans. Because neither Munich nor Arsenal counts when the neighbours in blue and white come to town. Time for the 139th derby! After the devastating defeat on Wednesday and the intense worries about Manni Bender and Mario Götze, one thing was even more sure than it had been the case with other derbys: This Saturday was the day to get rid of all the frustration and to beat out the shit of GE.
Okay, I have to be honest. I was very sceptical about the match in Munich and sceptical about our "week of truth" with three important matches in only seven days. But just like last season, Borussia laughed down all my scepticism, ignored it and proved me wrong. Very wrong. What we saw on Saturday was not just the third victory against Bayern Munich in a row (with two consecutive wins away), not just a match without any goals conceded against the best offense of the Bundesliga, not just a match with a goal against the best defense of the Bundesliga. It was a tactical masterpiece, a passionate, fighting performance by every Borussian who stepped on the pitch. For the second time after the match against Hamburger SV on day 1, I was remembered at last season. Borussia beat Bayern 1-0, Götze proved all his class once again and several supporters and clubs thanked us for making the fight for the place at the top interesting again.
Two weeks before the start of the most important weeks of the first half of the season, Borussia Dortmund proved that they are on a roll. The commerce club of Volkswagen Wolfsburg was no opponent for the German champion and sent home with a devastating 5-1 (2-0) defeat. Shortly before the break due to caps, we ended the last "English week" with an impressive style of play, a great choreography before the match and a nice atmosphere. Once again, it was great to go to the Westfalenstadion and see Borussia play. All in all, it was just a nice Saturday afternoon.
Borussia's series of four wins in a row ends in Stuttgart after a fair draw between the defending champions and the ones of 2007. The Swabian's lead by Serdar Taski in the 22nd minute was equalised by Lukasz Piszczek who scored in the extra time of the first half. Taking one point home, BVB dropped to third place in the Bundesliga table, but remains in a good position in the battle for next year's Champions League.
