Ultras reckon with Max Eberl on posters

Marco Rose initially avoided the interior of Borussia Park. The ex-Gladbach coach gave the preliminary interview for the rights holder “Sky” in the mixed zone of the stadium, so that only the RB Leipzig players had to endure a booing concert from the Borussia fans before the game.

“No acceptance for RB!” was the first banner that the Ultras had attached to the fence of the North Stand. It was the first sign of protest against the unloved “construct” from Saxony, which, thanks to the millions of investors from Austria, was able to establish itself in the top flight of the Bundesliga in no time at all.

There had always been protests against RB in previous years, but now the antipathy was given additional fuel by Rose’s commitment in his hometown of Leipzig – and by Max Eberl’s approaching entry into RB. Rose had a successful year and a half at Borussia before announcing in February 2021 that he would draw his release clause and switch to Borussia Dortmund. Eberl meanwhile resigned from his managerial position in Gladbach last January. He was exhausted and needed distance from the football business, he said at the time.

Now Eberl is ready for the Bundesliga again – which triggered a clear reaction from the FPMG Supporters Club in Gladbach. The fan project published an open letter to Eberl during the week, in which the ex-manager was tackled harshly. Among other things, there was talk of a “spectacle” at his withdrawal press conference. All of this heated up the spirits before Rose’s second return to Borussia Park.

And just like a year ago, when he lost 1-0 with Borussia Dortmund in Gladbach, Rose was greeted with a shriek of whistles when he entered the stadium arm in arm with his opposite number Daniel Farke. When the game was on, Leipzig’s coach had to put up with some unsightly chants. And after the game there were shouts of “Rose raus” from the Gladbach curve, alluding to the Saxons’ second competitive defeat in a row. “I don’t know if you should give the whole thing a platform,” Rose said after the game about the abuse. “I really enjoyed being here today, I met a lot of people I like. Those are the things that are important to me. From the day I made my decision, everything else lacked any degree of objectivity. That’s why I have to accept it like that.”

At the beginning of the game, however, Borussia’s fans had otherwise concentrated on cheering on their own team – as long as they had the ball themselves. However, when RB Leipzig was in possession – and that was the case for the first time after 45 seconds through goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi – the fans made a deafening noise with their whistles, which certainly made every spectator without Leipzig sympathy long for a high Gladbach ball possession percentage. Borussia were able to forget their whistles early on, however, when Jonas Hofmann scored the 1-0 for Gladbach in the tenth minute of the game.

This form of protest ended after 19 minutes – based on Borussia’s founding year 1900. The banner also disappeared from the fence, instead there was confetti, flags and chants. From then on, the focus was on supporting their own team – the fans now had clear messages for Max Eberl. At short intervals they showed banners with which they tackled the 48-year-old hard.

“Months of playing poker with a construct without a soul – Max Eberl, your change of heart makes us sick,” was written on the first banner, then: “Nobody here will ever forget where we come from – and where you’re going, you characterless asshole.” That The third poster in this direction was even more explicit, so that referee Patrick Ittrich also reacted and warned the stadium announcer that the game would be interrupted if the poster did not disappear immediately. It soon did. Shortly thereafter, Borussia went into the dressing room with a 2-0 half-time lead.

After the game, referee Ittrich commented on the poster in a TV interview on “Sky”, on which RB Leipzig was described as a “son-of-a-bitch club” and his coach and designated sports director were also insulted with the H-word: “I have the banner myself perceived. When it comes to such banners with insults and abuse, I have a relatively short leash. Something like this must be prevented and clear action taken,” said Ittrich.

Meanwhile, Borussia coach Daniel Farke was not worried that the game would have had to be stopped in the worst case. “In the last three months, I have come to know Borussia Mönchengladbach as a club full of style and class, and the same goes for the fans. When you’re at a traditional club and there’s a lot of emotion there, you sometimes exaggerate things and sometimes go beyond a certain level, which isn’t okay. But I think that’s how I got to know our fans: When you do that, you react relatively quickly and get involved again in a healthy way. That’s why I never worried that anything could escalate,” said Farke, who was otherwise only allowed to answer questions about his team’s successful game and the 3-0 win.