The will of double goal scorer Sebastian Haller (lv) should sweep all Dortmunders away.
Photo: imago/Sven Simon
Normally, Sebastian Kehl is a calm and level-headed fellow. But in the catacombs of the Augsburg stadium, everything was different for the 43-year-old on Sunday evening. With the 3-0 win over the Swabians, his Dortmund side had just passed FC Bayern in the table – and are now heading into the final round of the season as the front runners. There’s no better reason to let your composure down, thought the mastermind Kehl as he yelled down the aisles on the way to the crew cabin: “One more damn victory, one more shitty victory.”
Borussia Dortmund’s sports director was not the only one overwhelmed by emotions after the success at FC Augsburg. “We’ll do it, we’ll do it, men,” central defender Nico Schlotterbeck yelled through the cabin aisle at the idea of being able to lift the championship trophy in his first season with Westphalia. A plus of two points on the struggling Munich take Dortmund with them into the game against Mainz next Saturday. If the 15th win is achieved in the last of the 17 home games, the record champions can do whatever they want in the parallel game at 1. FC Köln. Then his master solo, which has now lasted ten years, is over.
It is also a highly exciting prospect for all BVB fans, whom coach Edin Terzić once asked for the duel in Mainz: “We then have to be as loud as we have never been.” In his inaugural speech in his current job, on whom he reminded again in Augsburg, he had said that it was not about being so loud, but more positive than ever. “And then, at the end,” says Terzić, “perhaps to celebrate like never before.” There is another story that goes with his speech last summer.
This is written by Sébastien Haller. In mid-July 2022, a malignant tumor was discovered in the testicles of the attacker, who had just moved from Ajax Amsterdam to the Ruhr area. After the successful operation, the Ivorian international was out for months – and worked his way back. Well, in the win in Augsburg, the 28-year-old scored the important first two goals after a difficult, goalless first half. His coach Terzić then reported: “Sébastien Haller as a person, with this will, this positive energy, we missed him so much in the dressing room, on the training ground. And it is simply the greatest miracle that he was able to come back this season.” Now he hopes that Haller will be similarly successful in the grand final against Mainz. “Then,” says Terzic, “he’s the hero of the season. Either way, we’re just happy to be together.«
The original of the championship trophy will also be present at the game on Saturday in Dortmund. Only a copy of the trophy is available in Cologne – in case Borussia go wrong against Mainz and Munich win the masterful game of nerves again with a win in the cathedral city. Nobody wants to imagine this scenario with the black and yellow. And they’re not really worried after their return to the top either.
“We will not take a day off this week, but will continue to work hard and focus on what got us into this situation,” emphasized Terzić. And that wasn’t Bayern’s defeat against Leipzig, it was the 70 points that his team had earned so far this season. “Now it’s about getting the last three points,” the 40-year-old continued, emphasizing: “The season will be over next Saturday. Then the boys can buy whatever they want again – the next car, the next house, the next holiday. But you can’t buy this moment.«
Sebastian Kehl knows exactly that. Born in East Hesse, he was a three-time champion as a player with Borussia Dortmund, most recently in 2012. Now the black and yellow have a match point again. In Augsburg, her sports director said, now again in a very calm, level-headed voice: “Now we can’t let that take us anymore.”
