Hertha's coach Otto Rehhagel felt reminded of the darkest times during the relegation of the 2011/12 season. And the ARD commentator didn't believe what he had to watch live either. In Dortmund, on the other hand, they celebrated their team and a stumbling Dutchman - before a faux pas made the royal blue rivals laugh!
"Please don't be serious that he's trying to get out of the turf... that's unbelievable... that's unbelievable. He wants to take the penalty spot before the end of the game. I've never experienced that, it's underground, that's not true...!" In the so-called scandal of the second game in the relegation between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Hertha BSC (2-2, after a 1-2 in the first leg), a young man stole one of the two penalty points from the 2011/12 season before the end of the match Lawn - live in front of an audience of millions on ARD. Commentator Tom Bartels was appalled. And one man could understand him particularly well: Otto Rehhagel.
At the end of February 2012, things had come full circle for the native of Essen, who describes himself as a "child of the Bundesliga". His Bundesliga career began as a player in Berlin and now, at the age of 73, he has returned to Hertha as a coach. But nothing was given to an old hand like him either. In his first game on the bench, his new club lost 3-0 in Augsburg. Rehhagel was then asked how sober he was and pointedly replied: "I'm always sober because I'm anti-alcoholic." In the end, Hertha failed in the relegation against Fortuna Düsseldorf.
In the second leg in the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, the first fans ran onto the pitch before the final whistle. Since the game could only be continued after a long break, the Berliners pushed for a replay in two DFB negotiations. In particular, Rehhagel's interrogation before the investigative committee turned into a spectacle. The Hertha trainer on the events on the Düsseldorf lawn: "For me it was all irregular, it was a state of emergency that I have not experienced in 40 years as a Bundesliga coach. I was half scared. I was in 1943 when the Americans were sitting in the basement in Essen, I was scared. I'm an experienced person, I saw the pack coming. Then I thought: Otto, you need a way out! I've never experienced anything like that! And that in Düsseldorf, little one -Paris. I thought people just strolled around there."
Otherwise it was the BVB season! The opening game against Hamburger SV turned into an impressive show. Borussia won 3-1 on the opening night of the 49th season and could be sure of the respect of the other clubs afterwards. Even Bayern President Uli Hoeneß praised Dortmund for his standards with almost exuberant enthusiasm: "It was really good for the first game."
With 81 points, BVB set a new point record at the end of the season. Never before had a team scored more points (47) in a half-series than Borussia in the second half of the season. Only FC Bayern Munich managed as many wins (25) as BVB in the 1972/73 season. The Dortmund team remained unbeaten in 28 games in a row and, last but not least, set a new Bundesliga record for the number of spectators. On average, 80,522 fans watched the BVB games in their home stadium.
The sticking point of the season in the battle for the title was Borussia's 1-0 win over FC Bayern on matchday 30. When the Dutchman Arjen Robben failed in the 86th minute with his penalty kick by BVB keeper Roman Weidenfeller, it felt like he had won the title. Franz Beckenbauer was angry after the game: "Robben wouldn't have shot if I were the coach. It's the law in football that the fouled player doesn't shoot, but maybe the law has been changed or hasn't made it to Holland yet." The most breathtaking game of the season was the game between Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart. 4:4 ended the encounter, which was a constant up and down of emotions in the last twenty minutes. Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp said afterwards, still visibly drawn: "Now everyone knows why they should pay so much."
But the biggest faux pas also happened in Dortmund - even if BVB couldn't do anything about it. A bank advertised a sponsored trip to a BVB game in a fan van. The advertisement, which appeared in Borussia's stadium magazine, featured a young man with a megaphone, who was apparently chanting something in front of a large crowd of people who were raising their hands to the sky enthusiastically. The man's black jacket had a huge yellow BVB logo on the back, and the megaphone was also in the club's colors. So far, so good, but now came the embarrassment: Because the picture did not show a BVB supporter, but the lead singer (Capo) of Ultras Gelsenkirchen.
The Borussia logo was painted on his back with Photoshop and the megaphone was also colored yellow. It's just stupid that the graphic designer overlooked the lettering "Ultras Gelsenkirchen" on the upper part of the whisper bag. Anyone who knows even a little of the heartfelt rivalry in the area between "Herne-West" (Schalke 04) and "Lüdenscheid-Nord" (Borussia Dortmund) can imagine: The story was of course a hit with the fans of the Royal Blues !
