Derby Time!

What a week it has been so far. Everything had been said by the media before the game against Munich, but nothing compared to the emotions that every Dortmundfan felt after the referee called it a day around ten minuted till ten o clok on that Wednesday night.
Euphoric cheering and dancing in our Westfalenstadion, the team in union with the fans- the world stood still for a few minutes and everything seemed to be perfect. But this was just a moment of perfection because soon after, the fans on the Südtribüne made quite clear what they long for next. While the team was still there to celebrate, a loud "we want the Derbyvictory" could be heard through the Westfalenstadion and with this said, or rather chanted, it became visible that this season is just not done, yet.

The victory against Munich was one of crucial importance for so many reasons. First of all we are again six points clear from Munich, giving them a hard time to fullfil their- well- duty to win the German Championship this season, but still this meant more. Everyone, who is somehow connected with Munich has an opinion on how much better Munich still is in comparison to us. We, again, proved that it is about football on the pitch and not about talking offside the pitch. With effort, patience and a tough fight we managed to conquer that victory and the outcome of that is surely a high amount of confidence that we can achieve anything as a team.

This confidence is important. As perfect as this Wednesday had been, there is still a difficult game ahead of us on this Saturday- against Schalke. Championship winners of the hearts, always without the "Schale", "Ruhrpott" rival and of course, that team that is eager to destroy us whenever possible. And despite the obvious facts, they have all the reasons in the world to beat us and make it difficult for us to win the Championship again this year, after we had spoilt it for them some five years ago in the year 2007. Our opponent did not have a lot to celebrate on Wednesday. Their 4:1 defeat against Nurenberg probably annoyed them quite a bit and they need to do better this time. Will they succeed? Most likely not. Our team knows how important this Derby game is. Even though you only three points for a victory in this game as well, this game is about way more than these three points. It is blue against yellow, us versus them, the good side of the Ruhrpott against the side that might as well be forgotten, it is a Derby- the mother of all Derbys- as we all call it. And if a season goes terribly wrong, a Derby victory can make all that go away. This time, however, the season is going everything but wrong and a victory against our blue neighbours could top everything we could enjoy so far.

It's gonna be a difficult game, not doubt about that.While a lot has been said about our youngster Götze, it is still not clear whether he will be able to play on Saturday for the first time after his long injury, and Subotic is hurting a bit as well- if we does not make it, Santana will be there to jump in and will do a great job as well for sure.
Schalke's players probably know what this game means to their fans as well, even though they did not prove it the last times. But still, our players are beyond that. They fight for our Ballspielverein and they live the Derby almost like us fans do. THey know what this game means to us and they will do everything in order to succeed. Together we can do this and make this season to another glorious one.
COme on Ballspielverein! Take these three points home with you and become our heroes one more time!

Possible Lineup

The blue ones: Unnerstall - Höwedes, Papadopoulos, Matip, Fuchs - J. Jones, Holtby - Farfan, Raul, Draxler - Huntelaar

Coach: H. Stevens

Yellow heroes: Weidenfeller - Piszczek, Subotic (Santana), Hummels, Schmelzer - Gündogan, S. Bender - Blaszczykowski, Kagawa, Großkreutz - Lewandowski

Coach: J. Klopp

Referee: Manuel Gräfe (Berlin)

Some ugly arena: most likely sold out


Ida, 13.04.2012


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