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DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — It takes a lot to tear down the yellow wall of Borussia Dortmund fans, if only for a moment.
One of world soccer’s most prominent crowds fell silent on Saturday as Dortmund missed out on the German league title as it drew 2-2 with Mainz, making Bayern Munich champions for the eleventh consecutive year.
With the final whistle, the atmosphere looked like a funeral as Dortmund’s players threw themselves to the ground in one or two, looking to lose the title, and coach Edin Terzic had tears in his eyes as he approached the enthusiasts. Workers holding stuck ropes at the edge of the court, able to stem a tide of enthusiasts that never came.
“It’s brutally disappointing,” defender Mats Hummels, the only player left from Dortmund’s last title-winning team in 2012, said in a televised commentary. The season, but today we closed the deal and we didn’t. It’s up to us. . . . The next few days will be brutal.
Dortmund started the day with a two-point win over Bayern, but nervousness started the game and gave way to disbelief. Mainz scored first, then doubled the lead after a missed penalty through Sebastien Haller, the striker who returned mid-season. of the cancer remedy to boost the challenge of the Dortmund name.
The crowd heard again the moment Dortmund began to create chances, finally rewarded through Raphael Guerreiro’s goal in the 69th minute. Dortmund coach Edin Terzic ignored the warning, replacing defenders with forwards and signing a 17-year-old, Julien Duranville, for his first Bundesliga match.
There was a roar when Bayern conceded a goal in the 81st minute, in short, putting Dortmund back on top, and then silence descended on the crowd of over 81,000 when news leaked that Bayern had scored 8 minutes later, enough to earn the name. unless Dortmund also won their match. Dortmund needed two more goals, but only scored one.
It took time for Dortmund enthusiasts to locate their voice after the final whistle as the players were consoled by the Mainz team. They eventually piled up in line in front of the yellow wall to pay the classic tribute of German football to the enthusiasts. The only apparent sign of disorder, a single cup thrown at the Mainz players as they left the field, which failed and splashed onto the roof of the canoe. Dortmund police said the events at the stadium and in the city as a whole were “an incredibly non-violent process. “
Fans filled the bars around Dortmund’s stadium for hours before kickoff. a name from Bayern’s decade-long dominance, and then had more good fortune elsewhere.
It’s possible that list will arrive soon with Jude Bellingham, the England midfielder who was replaced unused on Saturday with knee soreness, and is set to leave the club largely this summer after 3 seasons.
The most popular call on the shirts of the stadium and its surroundings is that of Dortmund-born striker Marco Reus, who joined his hometown club in the summer of 2012, just weeks after their last Bundesliga victory. He is still waiting for his own call up after 11 seasons
A parade planned in Dortmund on Sunday, attended by up to 250,000 people. The wait continues.
It is likely that Dortmund will not have a better chance in a while of finishing the race for the Bayern name. No team has earned the German name with a name as low as Bayern’s 71 in the last thirteen years, and few clubs have interrupted their own seasons like Bayern’s control. he did so by firing Julian Nagelsmann in March and hiring Thomas Tuchel.
After Dortmund drew with Mainz on Saturday and lost to Bayern, the Bundesliga trophy had to be removed from the stadium without a presentation. Bayern were to celebrate their unlikely triumph in Cologne with a copy of the trophy.
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