Han(g)over cure

If you have ever been to Scotland you will surely have come in touch with a certain orange liquid containing loads of sugar. In the evening you can mix it with rum making a great drink and a great night. The morning after this liquid will serve you as well – this time as a hangover cure.

In Dortmund we're experiencing a similar situation. The league feels like a massive hangover. A rubbish feeling after a great night has been rising in the last weeks. It seems like somebody has added something to our magical drink poisoning us with a lack of concentration, defensive struggle, injuries and a destruction of our self-confidence. We need a hangover cure for the Bundesliga! And as in Scotland that we 'just' need to leave out the poisoning rum. At least the long-term injuries have lessened with Gündogan, Reus and Mkhitaryan back in play. Nonetheless, we got hit by the injury curse again: Kagawa had a cramp (probably not too dramatic), Bender has an arm injury (but could be ready to play) and Hummels has been pre-cautiously substituted (might be able to play). Fingers crossed it stays like that. Self-confidence was gathered in Istanbul after a lovely success which nearly bounces us into the next round. Just the lack of concentration and the defensive struggle need to be worked on and they are strongly connected. Hopefully, it is a good sign that the second worst attack of the whole Bundesliga is coming to our Westfalenstadion. Goals are basically a guarantee in this match as there has never been a 0-0 in history when our BVB played Hannover.

Apart from the situation on the pitch there are two more fan topics to cover, one about the Hannover fans and one about us all: The Hannover ultras had some issues with the club's management in the past years. The story feels like a soap opera. Both sides feel betrayed and treated unfairly. In several episodes they fought, e.g. about a poster of a mass murderer who is comparable to the city's history like Jack the Ripper to London. Pressurised by a rubbish German newspaper the club officials forbid the use of the poster. The ultras did not care and showed it anyway. Then there were fights about pyro technique which led to a reduction in rights for the ultras. Both parties made their mistakes and finally, the ultras are now boycotting the matches of the first team. Nonetheless, around 6,500 supporters from Hannover are to be expected in Dortmund.

The other topic is far more important: Tomorrow the 'Fare Football People Weeks 2014' will be supported in the stadium. Fans are invited to paint posters and shout against discrimination. Discrimination is still an issue, in football and beyond and it is not compatible with the values our BVB and its fans stand for. A famous song about Borussia Dortmund states: "Borussia Dortmund connects generations, men, women, all nations" or in other words: "Love Borussia – hate facism!".

Possible line-ups:

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller – Durm, Hummels, Sokratis, Piszczek – Kehl, Gündogan - Reus, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan – Aubameyang

Hannover 96: Zieler – Schmiedenach, Marcelo, Felipe, C.Schulz – Prib, Gülselam – Bittencourt, Kiyotake – Briand, Joselu

Seb, 24.10.2014