For a few moments you could have thought that everything would be back to the way it was before. Third minute: Marco Reus bludgeons the ball volley in the corner, and the voice of the people almost explodes when stadium announcer Norbert Dickel calls for the naming ritual. “Marco?” – and from 60,000 open mouths the echo resounds “Reus!” through the stadium. Reus! Reus! Reus! A last name, made for the stadium, a man, a goal, a syllable. After this early spectacle, the return of the large audience was not always so exuberant, but Borussia Dortmund won 3-1 against Mainz 05, and after the final whistle the crowd chanted their next favorite word: “Front runner! Front runner!”
Between the two largest phon orgies of the afternoon, there was a game like many others for BVB and its appendix, which was halfway complete for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. Somehow far superior, but rarely really compelling, and above all never without conceding a goal. A team that plays like a promise for long stretches but always seems to say in the end that it is still too early to unwrap the presents. No wonder that Borussia coach Marco Rose didn’t seem overly impressed later. Neither from the performance of the audience nor from that of his players: “It was a decent game of ours. But we always make it difficult for us in the back.”
In the end, a few thousand viewers were missing for the predicate “sold out”
Theoretically, Germany’s largest stadium was allowed to accommodate 68,000 spectators for the first time on Saturday, but in the end a few thousand were missing from the usual “sold out” rating here. You couldn’t quite hear the difference in volume compared to the 25,000 or so that were previously allowed. This may also be due to the fact that some hardcore fan groups have so far boycotted BVB’s Bundesliga games because the “yellow wall”, i.e. the standing room that can hold around 25,000 spectators, is currently only allowed to be half full. The seat requirement applies.
Almost “sold out”: 63,812 spectators were back in the Dortmund stadium on Saturday.
(Photo: Bernd Thissen / dpa)
But it may well be that not all standing fans have kept to the slogans of the organized groups. After the game, the audience favorites Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland were celebrated as if there was no tomorrow. Dortmund’s 18-year-old Englishman had once again stolen the ball from a Mainz player in the 95th minute, then ran inexorably towards the goal of Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner, with the last bit of strength he passed across Erling Haaland – and who knew what to do.
The 3: 1 came at a cheering time, and so the Norwegian let himself be celebrated after a three-week break, as we know him. In the end even with a black and yellow fan in his arms, who had apparently overcome the fence and folder chains and seemed completely beside himself with happiness. As a speedster on the football pitch, you are obviously no longer asked for a digital vaccination certificate.
On his comeback after having recovered from a thigh bruise, Haaland had sunk a hand penalty into the goal – only given after watching the video – but otherwise the Mainz team, who mostly only defended, kept him well under control. Nevertheless, Haaland increased his personal Bundesliga goal rate with the two goals to 49 goals in 49 games. “Actually, we would have liked to give him a break a little earlier,” said Rose, summing up the situation around his top striker after the game, “but in the end he still scores decisive goals in the 95th minute. And besides, we need him because of that his size as a free man on the defensive. “
Rose gives a small swipe at his team
That was probably intended as a swipe at the usual problems of his team. As always, Dortmund scored a goal in the closing stages of the game, this time by young Mainz star Jonathan Burkardt. Games to zero seem to have been abolished at BVB. And despite an impressively high ball possession rate, Dortmund had previously, as so often in the current season, not been able to create a chance and hit depot.
Haaland’s younger comrade, Bellingham, was perhaps the real star of the afternoon. One wonders again and again where the midfield man, who at 18 seems too young to label him as a strategist, takes all his strength from. After all, he was allowed to use the last international break for an actual break, because his father and mother had given him a personal recruitment from England’s national coach Gareth Southgate. At some point the young man has to take a breather.
At the end of the 90 minutes, Bellingham took a swim in the Haaland wave. “I consider it a privilege to be able to play for such a big club and in front of such an audience. But after the last goal I just couldn’t cheer anymore. I was so exhausted that there was no energy left for it,” he said. On Tuesday evening, when Dortmund is present for the decisive Champions League group game at Ajax Amsterdam, Jude Bellingham’s memory should again show just under 100 percent. That will also be necessary, because the next three BVB weeks are again so-called “English” weeks. Bellingham assures that he has not yet really understood why this is actually called “English weeks” in Germany.