The Trinkhallen incident - Gladbach at home

Borussia against Borussia. The best attacking line against the worst defense. The best team in the world against yet another team. The best fans in the world against some other fans. The best coach in the world against a coach, who has not won a match against the best club in the world. Yes: You could say, 37 points never seemed so close. But still there is a match to be played at 6.30pm this Saturday. And it is not gonna be a walk over. Let’s jump out of the U-Bahn at Möllerbrücke and walk towards the stadium.

Back in the days unboiled tap water was a health risk. Workman instead turned towards beer and schnapps. Coal mine- and factory owners at first encouraged that with “schnappsdonations”. This led to alcoholism. City councils benefited the establishment of so called “Trinkhalle”, where bottled mineral water and other non-alcoholic beverages would be on sale. Most of them were build in front of the factory gates and soon after they were all over the place in the Ruhrgebiet. If you jump out of the local train or U-Bahn at S-Bahnhof Möllerbrücke and walk up to Westfalenstadion, you will find loads of them. These days they of course sell alcohol and are the meeting points for many Borussen on their way up to the stadium. Just mingle with fellow Borussen to hear the latest stories on Klopp and his young guns and make sure to grab a good bottled beer from the Trinkhalle. And if you are brave enough walk towards those guys that stand just across the street.

It is a group of mates that has been having their beers here for a long time. Stand close to them and listen for a while. “Pony farm today, easy win. It is time to take revenge for 78” “Ah, I remember. My dad would always go on about this. “Otto, lass die Löwen los” (Otto, unleash the lions) turned “Otto Torhagel” (Otto Goalshower). Disaster!” “Revenge! And Frontzeck is full of bad memories. He was handed his walking papers in Bielefeld after losing 6-0 a few seasons ago. He must be full of fear” “Guys, another beer?” “Sure, I’ll take two” “Same for me” “Never before a team was as good as ours. Never before! We could go all the way this season. 34+12=46. Before the break. Boy. We could be 20 clear of Buyern.” “Don’t forget about Reus. He’s a Dortmund boy” “Beer! Beer! Beer!” They open their bottles and down half the bottle. “Wasn’t he mates with Kevin?” “Who?” “Talking about Reus! Weren’t we?” “Sure, sure!” “He’s a real threat, scored a couple of fantastic goals this season” “ZIDAN! ZIDAN! EUER WELTUNTERGANG!” “Not again! Stop this bullshit. He won’t even play today” “But remember last time. He was all over the place. They did not know where to put him. I guess Klopp will give him a few minutes today” “Nah, nah. He won’t even make the squad. Whom should we leave out? And it’s Lewandowski first. Four goals – our super sub! Have you guys recently thought of Nelson Goaldeath?” “Haha! No. What is he up to these days?” “Not sure, last I heard of him he scored a brace against Barcelona” “Long ago. But that’s the difference. Lewandowski comes onto the pitch and he is part of the team.” “Same for Kuba. We have a fantastic depth this season. Wait…” he downs the rest of the bottle. “Beer? Anyone?” “Sure. And say hi to Freddy!” “Freddy?” “Röckenhaus. He sits over there. He really enjoys coming to the stadium these days. Ah. Do me a favor and get me a Jäger as well” “Freddy, Jäger, Beer” “Come on! Still some time till kick off” “Sure, sure” “ZIDAN! ZIDAN! EUER WELTUNTERGANG!” “Shut up, you never say anything but Zidan! Told you a million times he WILL NOT BE PLAYING” “He will” “Weihnachtsmarkt after the match?” “Glühwein? Do you think about anything else than alcohol? And you accuse him of talking about Zidan?” “Jäger! Jäger! Jäger!” The mates open the bottles and down the Jäger.

“Hi Paul. Where you been this week?” “Just the odd tour up to Braunschweig and to Gelsenkirchen. All I could think about was Borussia. You know I have those blue scum supporters, who load my truck in Gelsenkirchen. I was singing “21 points better” and they refused to load the truck. I just asked for the boss. They got quiet” “ZIDAN! ZIDAN…..” “…ah, it’s that time of year” “Let him have his dose of Zidan. I am happy he is back. But: How good is that Klopp extended?” “Mega! Seen his face. He is a good actor as we all know. He wasn’t acting during the press conference. So good to see them smile. So good to see the triumvirate” “I wasn’t really behind Watzke at first. Course, he turned the club around but the way he treated van Marwijk was a disgrace” “Long gone. It has all changed with Klopp. 2014. More than three years to go. A long long time” “But Gladbach first. I am sure the Süd will get nervous once we have not scored after 30 minutes.” “There is no reason to get nervous. We are so much better after half time.” “I was saying that earlier: Kuba! He is the main offender. He turned the match around in Hannover and Freiburg, he was fantastic against Hamburg as well. And he put his name down into our history books last week” “The unsung hero getting close to 300.000 youtube hits” “Gladbach is under 3 goals per game. We need to score six to put them back on track” “Come on. That’s when you start losing” “Why? Am I the team or what? I can dream when I want to. And I dream about May 16th. You can be 100% sure of that. We can destroy them. An early goal” “But you remember they beat Leverkusen 6-3. “ “So what?” “And they beat Cologne 4-0 and they have scored more goals on the road then we have scored at home?” “Yes. But they not gonna score against us. We are unbeaten in nine home games against Gladbach” “ZIDAN! ZIDAN!...”

You shake your head in disbelief and walk towards the stadium. It is dark, snow is drizzling down. Everyone is dressed in black and yellow. You walk inside the stadium. You find your place on the Süd, Norbert Dickel calls the player names. You sing “Heja BVB”. The match kicks off.

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller - Piszczek (Feulner), Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Bender, Sahin - Götze, Kagawa, Großkreutz - Barrios (Lewandowski).
Bor. Mönchengladbach: Heimeroth - Levels, Anderson (Callsen-Bracker), Daems, Wissing - Reus, Marx, Bradley, Herrmann - de Camargo, Bobadilla.
Ref: Manuel Gräfe
Kick Off: 6.30pm CET
Tickets: 500 tickets still available at the stadium from 2pm CET onwards

steph, 26.11.2010