FThe chapter Borussia Dortmund has ended for Mario Götze. Four years after his return from Munich, the 28-year-old midfielder was officially adopted at the championship second. “All in all, it was many years that I spent in Dortmund that were filled with many positive and negative feelings,” said Götze before the last game of his Borussia season against TSG Hoffenheim. He had already left BVB in Bavaria in 2013. At that time, his departure caused great emotions and hostility from the fans. Everything was completely different this time – not only because there were no spectators in the stadium.
“It’s a special situation with Corona. I’m not the type who pays a lot of attention, especially when it comes to saying goodbye, ”said Götze in view of his silent and strange farewell in Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park. “I often saw the stadium in a very good mood.” Before the kick-off, Managing Director Hans-Joachim Watzke, Sport Director Michael Zorc, BVB President Reinhard Rauball and head of licensing player Sebastian Kehl presented the “hero” of the 2014 World Cup in an empty stadium with a frame Photo collage and flowers. For the farewell, his teammates interrupted the warm-up program and gave loud applause.
After the failed talks with the BVB top to extend his contract, which expires this summer, Götze is looking for a club. Several clubs from Italy are reportedly interested in signing up. After the first years at the Revierklub (2009 to 2013) with two championship titles (2011/2012), the noble technician never managed to build on his old form in his second BVB period. Under the direction of trainer Lucien Favre, he rarely got beyond the role of the noble reserve. This season he only started in the first leg in Hoffenheim (1: 2).
When the Hoffenheimers in the center circle danced after the second leg on Saturday and started singing European Cup songs, the Dortmund team had long since disappeared into the cabin. The embarrassing 0: 4 (0: 2) at the end of the season bogged down the mood of everyone involved. Just a week after the impressive appearance at 2-0 in the top game at RB Leipzig, the Favre team suffered a memorable defeat that should fuel new doubts about the team’s character. “Maybe sometimes we just have the wrong mentality,” complained goalkeeper Roman Bürki in the first frustration at Sky.
Unfortunately for the Borussia, Andrej Kramaric was in great shape. With his four goals, the Croatian defeated the district club almost single-handedly. His team made it to sixth place in the table, which paved the way to the Europa League. The Kraichgauers are spared the unpopular qualification games. “It is a wonderful feeling. After all, that doesn’t happen so often, ”enthused Kramaric, who was the first Hoffenheim professional to score four goals in a Bundesliga game.
Sports director Alexander Rosen was enthusiastic about the splendid presentation of the professional who was recently plagued by bad luck with injuries: “The TSG with Kramaric is a different team than without Kramaric. He not only has this scorer quality, he also works a lot. We are glad that he was available to us again at the end of the season. “With bright eyes, Rosen looked back at the season:” It was a great way to end a demanding season. And that was not necessarily to be expected after such a change in summer. ”
Such an enthusiastic conclusion never came to anyone at BVB. Suddenly the joy about the respectable second place and the best goal exploitation in club history seemed to have evaporated. “It was not a good thing for us and we distributed too many presents. That was too little, ”complained Favre. However, the BVB coach is not afraid of permanent damage: “We will soon forget that. We still achieved our goal and ended up number two. We played a good season. ”
The sobering balance in the ghost games since the Corona break shows how much the normally inspiring atmosphere of Borussia’s own full stadium is missing. Three of the five games ended in defeat.
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