The perfect day- for many reasons

It was a glorious day for us Dortmund Fans. Some even called the game against Bayern a historical day- a historical victory. Regarding the fact that it has been almost 20 years when we had last won in Munich, it really seems just like history. But, as so often, history can be repeated. My dear fellow editor Vanni had pointed out earlier that we really had nothing to loose. Quite true. In case of a defeat it would have been 10 points ahead of Bayern. Now, after the game, I am wondering why I ever started calculating. There was really no reason for that. I knew our team was strong and had the nerve to pull this through, I guess I just didn't realize how extremely cool all of them are as well.

Let's start at the beginning though. Since Weidenfeller and Hummels had a little working accident during the week, the announcment that Weidenfeller could not play made his way around on Friday. What a perfect opportunity for our young Mitch Langerak (you know, the main charakter of Stephs Mitch-Diaries) to prove himself. Kuba was feeling better again and took a seat on the bench. Subotic was allowed to play again after he had to sit out the last game against St. Pauli due to his red card. On the other side the almighty-we-will-beat-Borussia-Dortmund-by-two-goals-at-least-and-are-the-best-team-and-better-on-every-position-Bayern-München was able to take his best squad up on the pitch. Let me tell you folks, the best squad of Bayern München was simply not enough for Borussia Dortmund.

First Half

With 10 000 Dortmund Fans present in Munich, 198 countries all over the world watching the game, and a BVB team with an age-average of 22, 3, this should be a very interesting game. The game started quite as promising as it actually sounded. Both teams were eager, but yet, Dortmund mananged to find a better way into the game. This led to Lewandowski giving the first warning signal by shooting onto Bayerns goal in the 4. minute of the game. Bayern did not seem to be impressed and apparently Bastian Schweinsteiger hadn't heard the warning signal. At least he didn't appear to be awake at the game. It was only 5 minutes later that he made a terrible stopping-mistake in the midfields which allowed our Kevin Großkreutz to steal the ball away from him and running towards Bayerns penalty area. Lucas Barrios, who was running along on the right side, made himself available. At the border of the penalty area our Kevin then played a perfect pass right through Bayerns defensive players which Barrios used to score the 0:1 for us. Easily. Yes!!! Of course this had to happen in the 09. minute.

The game stayed interesting though. Dortmund was running and fighting in an immense way, always doubling Arjen Robben who was kept out of the game completely. Bayern seemed almost impressed by such a strong defense. In the 10. minute of the game it was young Bayern player Thomas Müller who got dangerously close to our goal but luck didn't seem to be on Bayerns side today. Or maybe it was? Right so. At least a little bit. After a cornerkick in the 15. minute none of our players seemed to feel responsible for Bayerns Gustavo who came from the middle of the penalty area and pushed the ball into the right corner of our goal. 1:1. What about our Mitch Langerak? It was certainly not his fault at all. The correlation of our defense had taken a break in this minute. At least those 198 countries all around the world got to see an interesting game. And it should only get better. Three minutes later, another turnover on Bayerns side and Lucas Barrios picked up the ball and strived towards Bayerns penalty area in very high speed. Getting there he passed the ball on to Götze who passed it a few meters back to where our Nuri Sahin was standing. And what did he do? He shot the ball right into the upper left corner of Bayerns meter. From a 25 meter distance. 1:2 for us. This game was only getting better and better. In the 26. minute of the game then a perfect chance for Bayern. Actually they even scored. But luckily enough our defense knows how the offside-rule works and they managed to play it perfectly well. Gomez goal did not count. Only a few minutes later it was Bayerns Müller who got to shoot onto our goal way too easily but our Piszczeck watched out for the ball and drover it over our goal.

Then, let's jump right back into Bayerns half where our players were eager to play football as well. Lewandowski was not lucky when he shot the ball right above their goal. Pretty much about as unlucky as Hummels was when he first shot against Schweinsteiger and then against Tymoshchuck from only 5 meters away from the goal. It was an exciting game. There were goals, there were chances, our players were running and fighting and I have to say, to a certain extent they were better than the Bayern players. Arjen Robben was hardly seen. Schmelzer did a fantastic job on the left side of the defense. But all praise to our Kevin as well. He always came to help Schmelzer. He basically appeared to be everywhere. In the offense, in the defense, right and left side. A perfect day for him so far. After that it got a little bit more quiet when it came to chances on both sides. The game was taken out in the middle of the pitch mostly, however, we handled Bayern Munic quite gracefully. Always eager, always fighting, always running. Shortly before the break Gomez tried to defeat our defense once more, but our Mats Hummels was right there. Time for a break. Even though Dortmunds way of playing impressed me, I was still happy about the break. My box of cigarettes was already getting close to the end again. A few words to our Mitch. There was not too much to do for him in the first half. However, Bayern got quite a few corner kicks and despite the one that they actually used, Mitch was always there, fisting the ball far, far away. So far, he handled himself absolutely fine.

Second Half

Let the second half of excitement begin. Van Gaal decided that with Badstuber in the defense it might be too easy for our BVB, so he brought Breno instead. Dortmund got a little bit more quiet now. This, however, does not mean, that they played badly- but rather very, very smart. They controlled the game from the defense. Still, always doubling Bayerns players and waiting for a counterattack when it was given. And it got given. First Schweinsteiger saved a header by Großkreutz from the line, then we didn't get a penalty kick when Lahm held Großkreutz at his jersey and then Bayerns keeper Kraft controlled a ball by Götze over the goal. All of this happened in the minutes 53-59. It is a pity that we didn't get the penalty kick. But then again, we didn't need it. And here is why: Götzes ball, which Kraft drove over the crossbar, turned into a cornerkick. And this cornerkick led to a header by Mats Hummels. And this time he did everything right. He headed the ball right into the corner of Bayerns goal. 1:3 for us. What a perfect day. By now I felt like I was dreaming and could hardly believe what I had been whitnessing for about an hour.

With no means was Bayern superior at any point of the game. Instead we controlled the game on every position and broke free of their players in order to strive for a counterattack. It worked out brilliantly. Bayern seemed shocked now. I guess they had planned this a whole lot differently. It took them until the 75. minute of the game when they came close to our goal again. However, Ribery failed. Only one minute later it was finally the minute of our Mitch Langerak. Finally he was really able to prove all that he is worth. Gomez shot a ball onto our goal from quite a short distance. I kind of already saw this ball in our net but Mitch saved us. He threw himself to the side and fisted the ball far way. What a great save from such a young guy, who, I need to mention again, was actually playing his very first Bundesliga game. After that Lewandowski had the chance to score the 1:4 for us but again the ball was saved on the line by Pranjic. One more thing. One of the greatest on this day. Finally, after all those months our captain Sebastian Kehl was welcomed back on the pitch. Shortly before the game was over he got his well deserved exchange with the captain of that day, Nuri Sahin, in order to feel some of that great spirit that was floating around on the pitch that day. Welcome back Sebastian! We are happy you are feeling well again. In the end, that was it. And I cannot put down in words how overly enthusiastic and euphoric and happy I was after that game. Not only are we now 16 points ahead of Bayern, and not only did we shut their mouths in the best possible way, but most important: we played amazingly. We were strong in the offense, strong in the defense, strong in the middle, we had a strong keeper, we were strong everywhere. We fought, we ran, we were eager, we were not affraid and we enjoyed ourselves. And in every point of the game we are the deserved winners.

Thoughts

It really was a perfect day. We won, we played great, Mitch Langerak played a fantastic debut- Congratulations for that dear Mitch, we are happy to have you here in Dortmund-, Sebastian Kehl made his comeback. It was a memorable day. One of the many throughout this season one could say. After the whistle had rung and the game was over, all of our players jumped on Mitch Langerak in order to celebrate with him, in order to celebrate him, and even our coach Jürgen Klopp ran towards that crowd that was gathered there. Jumping and celebrating along. Our Nuri Sahin was a little bit overenthusiastic I guess, he broke Kloppos glasses. But on this day? Nobody cared. Once again, to watch this team celebrating together brings tears into my eyes. Call me over-emotional, it is probably what I am. Still, I cannot express how absolutely proud this team had made all of us on this special day. From Langerak to Barrios, from the substitute players, to the coach, to the fans, to the team, to our managers. No matter what the outcome may be- we definetely are champions!!!
My wish for next week? Please ruin Colognes carnival dear Borussia :-)

Stats

4.ranked FC Bayern: Kraft - Lahm, Tymoshchuk , Badstuber (46. Breno), Luiz Gustavo (58. Kroos) - Schweinsteiger , Pranjic - Robben , T. Müller (78. Klose) , Ribery - Gomez

Winner BVB: Langerak - Piszcek , Subotic , Hummels , Schmelzer - S. Bender , Sahin ( 89. Kehl)- M. Götze , Lewandowski , Großkreutz (82. da Silva) - Barrios( 74. Kuba)

Goals: 0:1Barrios (9., Großkreutz)1:1Luiz Gustavo (15., Ribery)1:2Sahin (18., M. Götze)1:3Hummels (60., M. Götze)

Referee: Manuel Gräfe (Berlin)

Viewers: 69 000 in the Allianzarena (sold out)

And here is what our Mitch said about his debut:

Mitch Langerak: „I haven't spoken to my family yet, it's still early in the morning in Australia. Probably I'll give them a buzz from the bus. It was a nice experience to play against Bayern Munich and to get three points. The boys were fantastic today and thanks to my teammates it was much easier for me. Today was a positive step, but we're not putting our head full with stuff thinking of the end of the season. We keep focused and know there's still a long way to go. Actually it was a special occasion for me to play today and I'm pretty happy having done a good job. I hope it will stay this way until Roman Weidenfeller returns. It's a good feeling to be part of that team – thanks bro's!"

Ida, 27.02.2011

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