Barney Ronay on a deeply strange spectacle
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John Brewin’s report has landed. Here it is; you know what to do. Click, enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe, everyone.
Dortmund, by contrast, were superb. All four of their goals were crackers; they’re a fine team to watch in full flow. And all without Jadon Sancho, too. This is a team that can spread the goals around. They’re a point behind Bayern, though the reigning champs can stretch their lead back to four tomorrow with a win at Union Berlin. Der Klassiker, here at the Westfalenstadion in ten days time, promises to be ... well ... a classic.
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Schalke were abysmal. David Wagner has plenty of thinking to do. They’re now eight games without a win in the Bundesliga, a run which has seen them lose 3-0 to Cologne, 5-0 to Bayern Munich and Leipzig, and now 4-0 to their arch enemies. They slip from sixth down to eighth, and you wouldn’t put too many pfennigs on them making the Europa League next season.
FULL TIME: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Schalke
Dortmund close to within a point of Bayern Munich at the top, with an imperious victory in the Revierderby. Schalke were swiped aside with ease, as poor as Dortmund were excellent. The Westfalenstadion echos to a round of applause, and the team amuse themselves by staging a choreographed celebration in front of the empty Yellow Wall. Very droll.
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90 min: There will be some added time. Seven seconds of it, in fact.
88 min: Both teams make another change. Jonjo Kenny makes way for Timo Becker, while Mahmoud Dahoud is replaced by 2014 World Cup hero Mario Goetze.
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86 min: Kenny prods down the right for Matondo, who sashays across the front of the box and nearly works space to shoot. It’s a fine run, but Hummels comes crunching in with a fine tackle, then Matondo accidentally studs Hakimi while stretching for the loose ball. Matondo is booked, though there’s no serious injury and no bad feeling.
84 min: This match has dropped to walking pace. It’s long become a stroll for Dortmund.
82 min: Hakimi takes down a long punt gracefully and tears off down the right touchline. He fizzes a ball through the six-yard box, but it’s inches away from Haaland, who was racing in with a view to slapshooting home. Schalke are in tatters.
80 min: Schalke stroke it around. Matondo tries to raise the tempo with a burst down the left, but there’s nowhere for him to go.
78 min: Hazard, who has had a fine game, makes way for Jadon Sancho.
76 min: Yet another Schalke change: Caligiuri makes way for Miranda. A reminder that teams are permitted to use five subs per match for the rest of the season.
74 min: Some admin. Schopf replaces Serdar. Piszczek is booked for accidentally handling the ball while slide-tackling. And Schalke win a corner! Sane attacks it, but heads harmlessly over.
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72 min: “One sided matches in empty stadiums? Nobody told me Scottish football was back.” Simon McMahon, laddies and lassies. He’s here all week, try the sausage and mustard.
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70 min: Dahoud grapples with Burgstaller to the right of the Dortmund D, and that’s a free kick to Schalke. Caligiuri curls it to the far post, where Matondo prepares to head home from close range. But Balerdi is immediately in the thick of it, showcasing his qualities by back-heading clear just in time.
68 min: Delaney makes way for 21-year-old Argentinian defender Leo Balerdi. As he makes his way to the bench, the club doctor issues him with his face mask. All protocols observed. The Premier League will be taking notes.
67 min: Imagine the noise the Yellow Wall would be making now.
65 min: Guerreiro didn’t bother celebrating that one. Nothing to do with social distancing, more that he thought he was a mile offside. But Kenny, way deeper than the rest of the Schalke back line, was playing him on. Miles onside. Good thing too, because that was a brilliant move of pace, ambition and no little skill. It’d have been horrible to see it chalked off.
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Schalke (Guerreiro 63)
This is a delicious goal. Guerreiro powers in diagonally from the left. He slips a pass inside for Haaland, just to the right of the D. Haaland returns it down the channel, Guerreiro having continued his diagonal run. Guerreiro then flicks home sensationally, flicking it with the outside of his boot into the right-hand side of the net, totally flummoxing Schubert yet again. That is something else!
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61 min: See 59 min. Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.
59 min: Schalke pop the ball around the middle of the park. Dortmund seem happy enough to let them get on with it, because they’re going nowhere.
57 min: Burgstaller tries to get something going for the Miners. He twists and turns on the edge of the Dortmund D and bobbles a shot goalwards. It’s not great, but at least it’s something. Schalke have terrible problems scoring goals. Burki gathers without fuss, not bad going seeing the ball was bouncing all over the place and took a deflection en route.
55 min: Dortmund carve Schalke open down the left with some pretty triangles. Haaland enters the box and should get a shot away, but uncharacteristically wastes the chance, overrunning the ball and allowing Nastasic to close him down. Schalke are a rabble.
54 min: Delaney is booked for using his elbow in a high 50-50 with Serdar. He can’t have any complaints, but makes some anyway.
53 min: Nothing comes from the free kick, other than a speculative long-distance blam by Kenny. Nope!
52 min: Delaney hauls back Harit as the Schalke man attacks down the left. Free kick in a dangerous position.
50 min: Haaland needs a bit of treatment, but he’s good to continue. The game restarts ... though is it already effectively over? Well, Schalke did come from 4-0 down to draw two seasons ago ...
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Schalke (Hazard 48)
Schalke faff around, and Dortmund break upfield. Haaland storms down the left and pokes forward for Brandt. He’s blocked by Sane and yells in pain, but the ref lets play go on. Brandt strides down the left, then strokes a pass infield for Hazard, free down the inside-right channel. Hazard creams a low shot towards the bottom right, and it goes straight through Schubert and in.
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46 min: Serdar has a whack from distance. It’s easy for Burki, but that’s as good as anything they did in the first half.
Here we go again! Schalke have made a double change, and it’s an attacking gambit. Burgstaller comes on to add a bit of lumber to the attack; he replaces injured defender Todibo. Raman makes way for Matondo up front.
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Half-time entertainment. Pint, pie, potty, podcast. All sorted!
HALF TIME: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Schalke
Dortmund are well in control of the Revierderby. They go off to a light smattering of uncertain applause, the sort Mike and Bernie Winters used to receive at the Glasgow Empire.
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GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Schalke (Guerreiro 45)
Schubert shanks a dismal clearance straight at Delaney, who offloads to Brandt. The ball’s shuttled to Guerreiro, who strides into the box and lashes a low shot across the hapless keeper and into the bottom right. Schubert dips his head, as well he might. What a gift, though the finish was special. It’s Guerreiro’s sixth of the season.
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43 min: Kenny crosses low from the Schalke right. Harit prepares to shoot from the edge of the D. He’s clipped from behind by Hummels and goes over. But he doesn’t get the free kick. There wasn’t a lot of contact, true, but it was enough. Harit is furious, and nearly fumes his way into the book with a verbal volley at the ref. But we play on.
41 min: From the corner, Dahoud has a crack from the best part of 30 yards. He catches it flush, and it’s going to take the net off the frame of the goal, but Sane bravely gets in the way to flick over the bar. Ooyah, oof, that’s gotta hurt. The next corner is a non-event.
40 min: Brandt creams a diagonal pass towards Hakimi on the right. Hakimi’s in acres, and strides into the box. He’s got Guerreiro and Haaland to his left, but opts to shoot instead. The ball pings off Nastasic and away for a corner. He should have laid it off.
38 min: A break in play as Todibo gets a bit of treatment. Not sure what for. Shock, perhaps. Hakimi is some prospect.
36 min: Hakimi zips down the right flank and gets to a ball he had no right to reach. He hooks it back from the byline, with Todibo in close attendance, and finds Guerreiro, who slices high and wide left from the edge of the box. Chances are Guerreiro was as surprised as anyone else that Hakimi kept that in.
34 min: Dortmund are well on top now. Imagine the noise if the Yellow Wall was in situ. “A bit like watching soundcheck, this,” suggests Grant Tennille. “Not that that necessarily precludes heavy-metal football.”
32 min: Schalke have been rocked by the quality of that goal. They’re struggling to clear their heads, and to retain possession.
30 min: That’s Haaland’s tenth Bundesliga goal of the season, and it was a sensational move. He runs off to the corner flag, but there’s nobody there to celebrate with. Never mind, a huge smile plays across his face anyway. It didn’t take long for him to get back into the groove, did it?
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Schalke (Haaland 28)
Who else? Erling Braut Haaland scores yet again, opening his body up to elegantly sidefoot Hazard’s right-wing cross into the bottom left. A gorgeous finish to a flowing move that started with Brandt sending Hazard away down the wing with a cute reverse flick
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26 min: Schalke have been quiet, but suddenly they explode into life, Oczipka whipping a cross in from the left. Akanji’s clearing header is dreadful, straight at Caligiuri, who nearly powers home at the far post. But Akanji does extremely well to get back and block, with a little help from Burki.
25 min: Incidentally, just before the corner was taken, Haaland and Todibo received a mild ticking off from the referee for some garden-variety fussin’ and fightin’. A feud worth keeping an eye on.
24 min: Brant sends it in. It’s only half cleared, and he gets another go to swing in from the right. Sane eyebrows the cross away from Hummels, who was preparing to head home from six yards. The ball breaks to Haaland at the far post. He lashes in his trademark fierce style into the side netting. Dortmund very close there.
23 min: Hazard is brought down by Serdar as he dribbles down the left. A free kick just to the side of the D. Hakimi takes, but it’s straight at the wall and headed away from danger by Nastasic. But it’s at the expense of a corner, from which ...
21 min: A lull, the first of the new era.
19 min: Hummels faffs around on the halfway line, and is nearly stripped of possession by the buzzing Raman. He gets away with it. A lucky one, because if Raman won the block-tackle duel, he’d have been clean away.
17 min: Dortmund have enjoyed 57% of possession so far. After a slow start, they’ve also had the better chances. About right for a match-up between second and sixth.
15 min: Dortmund are beginning to assert themselves now. Hazard flicks one round the corner to send Guerreiro skittering towards the Schalke box down the inside right. He’s got enough time and space to shoot when he enters the area, but his weak drag is easily blocked by Sane. It’s a corner, which turns out to be a total non-event.
13 min: The exciting Hakimi goes on a tear down the right and whips a low ball into the six-yard box. Haaland is lurking at the far post, waiting to slam home, but Todibo slides in stylishly to hook clear, a sensational bit of defending. For a second, Schalke had been ripped open.
12 min: After an interminable wait, it’s decided that Kenny was so close to Haaland that he could do nothing about the ball striking his hand. Something that was blatantly obvious from the get-go. Did you miss VAR?
10 min: Hazard is upended mid-dribble down the right by Nastasic. Delaney hooks the free kick into the mixer. Haaland rises at the far post and tries to hook a shot around Kenny. The ball clanks onto Kenny’s hand. Haaland wants a penalty kick. The referee goes upstairs to find out what the deal is.
9 min: Dortmund ping it around for a while to no great effect.
7 min: It’s a bright start, this. How we’ve missed football. Hazard jigs down the inside right channel and has a whack from distance. He blazes the ball high into the empty stand.
6 min: Caligiuri tries a curler towards the top left, but blooters the free kick straight into the wall.
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5 min: So this is good end to end fun. Harit dances down the middle and draws a clumsy foul from Dahoud. A free kick, just outside the D, in a very dangerous position.
4 min: Having realised Schalke are playing at a higher tempo, Haaland tries to kick-start Dortmund into life with a burst down the inside-right channel. He nearly bursts through, but loses control just at the end, allowing Schubert to smother.
3 min: Schalke press Dortmund hard. McKennie steals the ball in the midfield and feeds Raman down the inside left. For a second it looks as though there’ll be time for a shot, but he’s closed down by Hakimi and the danger’s over.
2 min: Ah, that sports-centre five-a-side ambience. Dortmund knock it around the back in the training-ground style. Football really is all about the fans. But this is where we all are, and there’s no point harping on about it. Let’s enjoy it for what it is.
Dortmund get the ball rolling! God speed, everyone.
The teams are out! And it’s a positively psychedelic experience. No fans, just 200-odd people in the 81,000-capacity Westfalenstadion. The PA guy’s voice pinging off the walls like the hollow announcement of the last train home. And there’s been a last-minute change to the Dortmund team, with Thorgan Hazard taking the place of young Gio Reyna. We’ll be off in a few seconds!
Pre-match chit-chat. “Hi Scott, hope you are well.” All good over here, Ruth Purdue, thanks for asking. Hope you’re well too. “Are you excited about seeing European football again as well as being conflicted about it at the same time?” Excited? Yes. Conflicted? Indeed. Although for some of us, football never ever stops, not really. It only seems like a couple of weeks ago when Stanley Matthews lifted the 1953 FA Cup. Strange times.
Pre-bandwagon-jumping reading. Because, as Pjotr van Rooijen says: “We are all football hipsters now.”
♫♯♪ “It was 20 19 years ago today ... ♫♪♫ It’s the anniversary of another notable match at the Westfalenstadion. Here’s how Sid Lowe saw the wild and wonderful 2001 Uefa Cup final at the time. Another nine-goal thriller today? Yes please, everyone.
Giovanni Reyna, son of former Rangers, Sunderland and Manchester City midfielder Claudio, makes his first start for Dortmund. Thomas Delaney returns, while Jadon Sancho is left on the bench. Axel Witsel, Marco Reus, Emre Can, Nico Schulz and Dan-Axel Zagadou all miss out due to injury.
Schalke welcome back Salif Sane, who makes his first appearance since injuring his knee last November. Jonjoe Kenny, on loan from Everton, starts, as does Barca loanee Jean-Clair Todibo. Ozan Kabak and Benjamin Stambouli miss out.
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The teams
BVB: Burki, Akanji, Hummels, Piszczek, Hakimi, Guerreiro, Delaney, Dahoud, Reyna, Brandt, Haaland.
Subs: Hitz, Sancho, Hazard, Schmelzer, Morey, Balerdi, Furich, Gotze, Raschl.
S04: Schubert, McKennie, Nastasic, Serdar, Raman, Caligiuri, Kenny, Todibo, Oczipka, Harit, Sane.
Subs: Nubel, Miranda, Gregoritsch, Matondo, Kutucu, Burgstaller, Schopf, Becker, Mercan.
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Preamble
Football’s back, baby! It’s back! Well, not in the UK, not yet. But over in Germany, the Bundesliga today becomes the first major division to get back up and running in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. And what a place to pick things up again: Borussia Dortmund versus Schalke! The Revierderby! The rumble in the Ruhr! The noise in North Rhine-Westphalia! The ... hey, let us shake off some MBM rust, will you, it’s been a while. You get the gist.
So about that rumble and noise ... BVB’s Westfalenstadion is arguably the most atmospheric ground in Europe, the Yellow Wall, all that. But not today. This game will be played behind closed doors, with only 213 people allowed in. That number takes in players, managers and staff, officials and ballboys, medical folk, camera operators and other assorted media types. There’ll be no handshakes, no team photos, no mascots. No cheering, no chanting. The rest of the 2019-20 Bundesliga season will be played out like this. Nine eerie games to go.
The tragic realities of Covid-19 aside, this is a shame for a more trivial reason. The Revierderby has always generated one hell of an atmosphere. Take 1969, for example, when Schalke took the lead at Dortmund. Fans staged a celebratory pitch invasion, and were chased back into the stands by police dogs. Amid the brouhaha, an Alsatian sunk his teeth into the most padded portion of Schalke defender Friedel Rausch’s shorts. It later transpired that this particular hound had nothing to do with the police, but was brought in by a sassy Dortmund fan posing as a peeler to gain free entry! When Schalke hosted the reverse fixture later that season, their president Gunter Siebert responded to events by patrolling the pitch with a lion. Forget that miserable old saw about Germans having no sense of humour: this was, quite literally, satire with teeth.
Fifty-one years on ... and the Dortmund of 2020 are chasing their first Bundesliga title since the Jurgen Klopp era; since 2012 to be precise. They’re currently four points behind reigning champions Bayern Munich. Schalke are well off the pace in sixth spot, but if they can hinder their rivals’ title challenge this afternoon, it’ll make up for an awful lot. Schalke started the season well under new boss David Wagner, formerly of Huddersfield Town and Dortmund reserves, but the enforced break came at a good time for them: they’ve only won once in eight league games since the winter break, a 2-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach in January, and were recently battered 5-0 at home by RB Leipzig. Lucien Favre’s black and yellows, by contrast, are on a four-match winning run, though that comes with the obvious caveats and asterisks. The hosts will be the favourites today.
And yet Schalke will take heart from their last two visits to the Westfalenstadion. In 2017, they came back from four goals down after 25 minutes to grab an absurd 4-4 draw, while they won 4-2 last season as Dortmund’s title bid spluttered out horribly. On both occasions, Dortmund had men sent off. They haven’t won this fixture since 2015. So despite the strange, sterile, mid-pandemic atmosphere, today’s Revierderby still has the potential to thrill. It’s Der BVB! It’s Die Knappen! It’s one of the biggest rivalries in world football! It is, once again, on!
Kick-off: Too soon, some will undoubtedly say. But they’ll get the ball rolling at 3.30pm in Dortmund, 2.30pm UK time.
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