Original subtitles

The bitter loss in Munich was very disappointing for us all.

The first half was appalling.

You could sense in the discussions over the following days

DIRECTOR OF CONTRACT PLAYER DEPARTMENT that we weren't ready for that match.

We simply surrendered in the first half.

It was pathetic. We analyzed the game, but after a 5-0 loss,

I expected the analysis to be harder. You have to be really tough.

We can of course try to stay in our comfort zone,

but I don't think that's the route to success.

Someone, no matter who, has to say

that we failed as a team in the second half, just as an example,

that we did too little, and weren't attentive enough,

that we didn't make any good runs up front,

that some players didn't defend well and some didn't want the ball,

and that we can't function as a team this way.

If you do that, then you're on your way.

These factors will decide whether Dortmund becomes a top team or not.

You have to set group dynamic processes in motion,

by identifying them. Not everyone will like that,

but no one said success is easy.

I hope it starts soon. It hasn't started yet.

You get the feeling that the lads want to speak out,

but are afraid of the reactions.

You sense something is stirring, but it's not coming out. If it doesn't,

then it won't take priority. If it does come out, that's the next step.

I take a similar view. I agree with Roman and Matthias.

TEAM CAPTAIN These things can be resolved quickly,

both internally and on the pitch,

but many players may have a different opinion.

This is a process in our team that is slowly progressing.

We're not at the stage where we talk about it every time

and actually highlight the issues.

We are making progress, but we're not yet at the point

that Matthias knows from his experience and has also put into practice.

I knew Matthias as a player, and we knew each other well.

He has his particular way

of dealing with things.

And it can be productive

when you also have players who act as a counter-balance.

If you have 11 Matthias Sammers, you have complete chaos.

In the dressing room, you must be brutally honest, you're not friends.

Externally, you can't overdo it.

No one likes to be publicly criticized.

Matthias has a very extroverted way of expressing criticism.

Whenever Matthias had one of his rants,

Ottmar Hitzfeld would always try to smooth things out.

If the manager had argued against him,

that would have been counterproductive.

Matthias pushed everybody around and Ottmar then sorted it all out.

That was an ideal combination.

MATCHDAY 29

There was apprehension beforehand.

After losing 5-0, no one knew what kind of showing Dortmund would make.

Would they play with the same ease

SPORTS JOURNALIST after the shock defeat in Munich?

We had to play differently,

because we wouldn't beat Mainz at home, if we played like we did in Munich.

We wanted to show we could do better. We started the match well.

We had a lot of possession

and didn't let Mainz play their attacking game.

It was important that we played as well as we did.

Then it seemed like they'd brushed off the shock defeat to Munich,

and seemed unperturbed, and that surprised me,

because it was unlike the end of the previous season,

when they weren't great mentally.

This time maybe the 5-0 loss sparked an attitude of defiance.

We played very well in the first half.

It was a dominant performance,

with accurate passing and two goals.

It was all going in the right direction.

If you're 2-0 up against Mainz,

who are one of the teams that you should be beating in the league,

why did their legs start shaking?

Why did a small change made by the opposition

make them lose their routine and their feeling of strength?

It was very puzzling.

That it happened repeatedly in the 2nd half of the season

is even more puzzling. I wonder where it's coming from.

What's going on in that team?

In the last 20 minutes,

it felt like Mainz had one or two extra players on the pitch.

In our counter-attacks,

GOALKEEPER four players ran up,

but then didn't track back.

Then it's hard to win balls that way, so that's what happened.

I kept saying we have to play physically

and to believe in ourselves.

We're Borussia Dortmund at home! With all due respect to Mainz,

you can't be out-played like this at the back with the score at 2-1.

Set pieces were Dortmund's favorite bugbear in the 2nd half of the season.

A triple chance! It's amazing how Bürki kept the ball out.

Or the balls. There were three of them

within 1.5 seconds from point blank range.

With every part of his body. Delaney said he was like an octopus.

It seemed like he had eight arms and somehow kept the ball out.

That was a moment that a goalkeeper takes a lot from.

You feel like you're invincible.

A moment no one forgets, which explains why the fans cheered him so much.

From the run of play, Mainz were going to score

and Dortmund were about to blow their lead again.

But Bürki made it clear: You can get this far, but no further.

I know from last year what it's like when things don't go well.

So it means a lot to me that they really believed in me,

and that I can give something back now. I'm very happy about that.

I'd wish it upon any other player, that he can experience that,

because it's a wonderful feeling.

TRUE LOVE

DORTMUND TEAM HOTEL SITE OF BOMB ATTACK 2017

The bomb attack was the worst thing that can happen to you.

For the club, that was a very difficult turning point.

Perhaps the greatest challenge,

because the night after the attack, we had no secure base whatsoever.

We still had to make decisions in a short space of time.

You're in a panic room

with the police asking you not to announce any decisions,

saying they first had to check the driveways

and the sidewalks for more bombs.

A letter was found, saying ISIS claimed responsibility,

and they thought it was a terrorist attack.

When it ultimately turned out

that someone had gambled on causing the share price to crash...

That was completely unimaginable.

About an hour after the attack,

it was decided by a so-called crisis panel,

comprising representatives from the club, UEFA and the police,

that the match would be rescheduled for the following day.

The evening after the attack, Rauball argued that

they had a social responsibility not to give in to terrorism.

They still thought it was terrorism.

THERE HAS BEEN AN INCIDENT AND ONE PERSON WAS INJURED.

The match will be played here tomorrow at 18:45.

The cooperation with UEFA, with Monaco and the police was very successful.

But there's no alternative to tomorrow.

We can't keep the Monacans here till Thursday.

They're playing this weekend and the return leg is next week.

It's an unfortunate situation, but there's no other solution.

I can understand Hans-Joachim Watzke,

assuming that he spoke to the players the next day

and asked if they felt up to the task.

I can understand him agreeing to that decision.

DAY OF THE ATTACK

I think it probably still bothers him today.

If Hans-Joachim Watzke had known what would happen afterwards,

he would never have made the decision

to agree so quickly to the only practicable suggestion

of rescheduling the match, despite the pressure that he was under.

But I think he wanted to keep all his options open.

We wanted the match to be rescheduled to sometime in the future.

Mr. Watzke told us if we didn't play, we forfeit the win.

GOALKEEPER We didn't want that.

There was a discussion and the feeling was we had to play,

so we then decided as a team that we would play.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINAL 1st LEG

Then Thomas Tuchel went on camera and said,

"People who have nothing to do with football

and who weren't on the team bus made this decision above our heads."

I can understand Watzke being really mad about that.

We had a meeting at 11 o'clock

and I said if the majority of players didn't want to play, we wouldn't play.

So everyone can conclude that this wasn't the case.

If you show 100 percent unity as a club at a moment like that,

you can draw great strength from it.

But the opposite can also happen.

I think this led to the irrevocable rift

between Thomas Tuchel and Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Beforehand, they'd never really been on the same wavelength.

I've come on behalf of the federal government

FORMER MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR to show our solidarity

and to support this match.

Today is about all of football and about all large public events.

We won't be intimidated in our peaceful, quiet way of life.

I'll never forget the faces in that bus.

They'll stay with me for life. It was horrific.

I realize this is important and the whole world is watching. I know.

But we're human. You have to understand what we've been through.

But to make a stand with football?

That's way beyond my comprehension, to be quite honest.

GERMAN CUP FINAL

Thomas Tuchel is also very successful in what he does.

But there were deeper-seated problems, that related not to events on the pitch,

but to cohesion and how people get on with each other.

You have to make the characters in a team pull together

and you have to treat a superstar the same way as a reserve player.

You have to find a way to keep the group united.

Jürgen Klopp managed that impressively at Dortmund for years

and I'm sure he also set a benchmark.

I think one of Tuchel's failings was that he didn't succeed with that.

It's quite clear that no other manager will be like Jürgen Klopp.

We deliberately chose Thomas Tuchel,

because we thought and still think that he's a very good and able manager.

And our decision wasn't wrong.

We won the German Cup under very difficult circumstances,

with the bomb attack and so on.

The sporting results were good.

It helped him. He won his first title with Dortmund.

There was no real sporting reason to part ways,

but it's always about more than that.

And after two years, both sides evidently felt that

the basis wasn't good enough for a third year.

GERMAN CUP WINNERS 2017

When I realized that the manager

was trying out everyone in my position,

even though I performed well at the start of the season,

it was difficult, especially as I'd sought and had discussions,

only to discover that it didn't change anything,

no matter how well I train

FORMER CAPTAIN or how much praise I get in training.

It's hard for me to understand why I wasn't considered at all,

as there were several injuries,

or there were games where that position wasn't filled well, in my opinion.

But it's the manager's decision and I have to accept it.

The fact that I don't understand it is a separate issue.

But it doesn't change my attitude in general.

I'll keep working hard, so that when I get my chance

I'll be ready and can take it.

Till then, I'll have to be patient

and help the team in a different way,

because we have this big goal this season, which is only attainable

if players who aren't getting regular games

continue to try hard in training and don't slack off,

so that the lads who do play face competition during the week.

I'm very sorry about that, but this isn't about pity.

The manager doesn't have to account for his decisions to anyone.

It's the manager's territory.

And if there's a player that I really like

and rate very highly,

and the manager doesn't rate him as highly, that's okay.

It's been a hard season for Marcel,

but I know that Lucien considers everything carefully

and never makes decisions for personal reasons.

It's the fate of any player.

Marcel Schmelzer also experienced this the other way around,

when Jürgen Klopp felt that Dedê was past his prime

and Schmelle moved ahead of him.

Thank you. - Bye. Have a nice day.

It totally helps to think of how Dedê treated me.

He was probably annoyed not to be playing, too,

but he never let it show,

and I'll always really appreciate him for that.

Schmelle played 34 matches for all 90 minutes.

These things have to happen. These things are God's will.

I understood that in my time. Schmelle...

He's just a really nice guy. We get on very well.

It really makes you understand the team concept better.

It makes you slow down a bit and realize

you've still had ten years at the highest level,

internationally and domestically.

MATCHDAY 30

It wasn't easy going to Freiburg after Bayern won the day before.

We just have to hope that Bayern drop points now.

DIRECTOR OF CONTRACT PLAYER DEPARTMENT Our fate is no longer in our own hands

and we have to accept that.

In the run-up I thought that Freiburg will have seen

Dortmund had problems against Mainz,

whose aggressive and robust attitude

SPORTS JOURNALIST almost brought them success.

Of course they're dangerous. They beat Leipzig 2-0

and Mönchengladbach 3-1,

1-1 against Bayern.

They play long balls, they're very athletic,

they're good at winning the second ball,

MANAGER and they counter very quickly.

We have to be attentive, or it will be difficult.

We've always had difficulty here.

They posed a risk many times.

They tried to keep possession and tried to hurt us.

It was the kind of game Lucien Favre favors.

He trusts in this patient build-up,

and then Dortmund have individuals who have the ability,

once they have teed up the opposition,

to raise the tempo at the right moment, and have the ball skills

to provide an assist that just needs tapping in.

SPORTS JOURNALIST It was perfect Lucien Favre football.

The way strikers think, if they don't score for a while,

they soon start to have doubts. Alcácer is more of an introvert,

who is affected more than Cristiano Ronaldo,

if he doesn't score for a few weeks.

That was a great gesture from Marco Reus,

as they were vying with one another to be the club's top scorer.

For him to forego the penalty for the sake of his team mate,

that's a scene that clearly shows what a great Marco Reus is,

and also that he sees the bigger picture.

It hasn't been easy for Paco in recent weeks.

He could hardly join in our preparations

as he had a torn muscle from earlier in the season.

He hadn't played much, and then he broke his arm.

It hasn't been easy for him. He was unhappy about not playing.

We need Paco every game, so it was a natural thing for me

to show him he's important for us and that he deserved to get a goal.

TEAM CAPTAIN So it was an easy decision for me.

The way we've played the last few games,

including Freiburg, where it's hard,

and the fact that we won by a margin,

it does us a power of good. Keeping a clean sheet was important too,

for our defense and our forwards. It's working and we were clear winners.

We know we probably have to win every league match.

But we're also trying to stay relaxed,

because pressure probably isn't the best motivation.

A bit of freedom is the best thing for the lads.

Our last win was close.

It was hard work, a tough battle. So that was really nice today.

The score and the way we played give us a lot of confidence.

How many games do we have? Four more. Nothing is decided yet.

We'll try to keep up the pressure and hope Munich slip up and we are there.

We usually arrive two hours before the lads

to prepare and make breakfast.

As soon as they finish breakfast or their pre-training snack,

we immediately start preparing the next meal.

Or they make specific requests to take something home

or they have nutritional requirements and say what we have to be aware of.

We also have players who only eat halal meat for religious reasons.

We always have halal food for them.

We also have others who avoid lactose.

Some ask us now and then if we can make something vegan.

We want to cater for everyone

by providing a selection of salads, starters,

soup, at least two meat dishes,

we have fish, and sometimes prawns,

up to four vegetables and filling side dishes,

so there's something for everyone and they really enjoy it.

Particularly when there's good weather and we switch on the barbecue,

you can smell it from the pitch, and when they come off

they shout, "Hey, I'll be right there."

"What are you doing? We're trying to play football here!"

Everyone appreciates it.

When new players arrive, they're quite amazed at what's on offer.

So this is not the norm.

But there are clubs abroad that do it even better.

Once we signed a player from Chelsea,

and he came to us in the morning and said, "Send me a chef this evening."

I didn't understand. "What do you mean, send a chef?"

At Chelsea they could give notification,

and if you had visitors or were alone, a chef would come by.

They had seven chefs who would go to their homes,

who they would pay. But that was new to us.

Götze is a special player. He's known for his goal in the World Cup final.

It's both a curse and a blessing.

When it's not going well, they say, "He isn't even on the bench!",

as was the case at the start of the season.

Many people thought he'd had his swansong

and his career was over.

The first three months of the Bundesliga season

were definitely hard for me,

especially when I wasn't even in the line-up.

ON START OF 2018 SEASON I felt that and so did the others.

I wouldn't say I was shocked,

but it really surprised me

to see that Mario Götze didn't feature in Favre's plans at all,

and I started wondering how that would affect him.

He dared to make a new start in his old, familiar surroundings,

where he imagined he'd be safe,

only to lose his starting place at Dortmund.

It must have been like having the rug pulled from under his feet.

Is that mine? Yes, I'll take that. Thanks, Dennis. Great.

Thinking back, I accepted the situation.

I realized I had time to improve,

to work on various weaknesses,

to train with my left foot and physically,

to focus, and to go the extra mile,

to convince the manager and the team that I am of value,

and can still be of use. It made me better and stronger.

It made me more mature and gave me some experience.

Not playing in the Bundesliga or being in the line-up was new to me.

Lucien Favre then picked him later in the season.

His goal against Augsburg was important,

when the south stand really cheered him. It was a moment of liberation for him.

Subsequently we saw what he can do when he has confidence,

when he gets some game time and gets his rhythm.

Perhaps he's no longer the man

whose explosiveness tears defenses apart,

but technically he's a very skillful worker.

His strengths have shifted.

He plays differently. He plays in a canny way.

He rarely loses the ball, he always makes himself available.

He's always one of the most tireless runners in our team.

He seems more dynamic again

and has regained the confidence to take on one-on-one situations.

SPORTING DIRECTOR And he provides great assists.

THE EASE IS BACK

Having been made fun of for two years,

people now say in retrospect it was genius to bring him back.

That's football. The truth is rewritten every four weeks.

But it was also hard to predict,

because Mario had an extremely difficult period.

He was a precociously talented striker, but he made a fatal mistake.

That transfer was wrong for his development. We all know that now.

In retrospect it's easy to say it was right or wrong.

It was a personal development for me.

I understand from his point of view. I can understand Aki.

We've known each other for 14 years.

I've always felt that Mario is a special kind of guy.

Sometimes he's a bit unapproachable,

because with the big career he's had from very early on,

he's always tried to keep himself under control.

It isn't easy to get through his walls.

But once you're through, you realize he's a good guy and he's very focused.

But for the game that characterized him,

you need a certain ease. He lost that and it's coming back now.

So it's not just satisfied, I'm really happy for him.

In 1997 I scored against Juve in the Champions League final.

Mario scored the goal that won the 2014 World Cup.

That's the highest pinnacle there is!

But then what's demanded of you changes. You have more baggage.

Sometimes you can pedal as hard as you like,

and train and be as professional as you like,

but there's little you can do to resist it.

In the mid-90s, Mehmet Scholl and I became the first footballer pop stars.

Mehmet usually won the gold Otto Award and I won the silver.

Back then I felt a little overwhelmed, though there's no comparison with today.

With Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, it has increased exponentially.

But nowadays players have more support.

Back then we had no idea how to handle situations like that.

YOUTH MEETIING What problems are they facing?

Everything has changed since I was a youth player, over 20 years ago.

We used to play on ash pitches.

Now we train on heatable synthetic grass pitches.

Now we have not only full-time coaches,

but also athletic coaches, rehab coaches, physiotherapists,

social education workers and psychologists.

It's become extremely professionalized and individualized,

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR so we can take care of each individual

and support them as best we can, so they can turn professional one day.

We have many positions that we filled internally, when they were vacated.

We now have a staff of over 100,

and we're the biggest department at Borussia Dortmund.

That demonstrates the effort that we make.

You may have a Mario Götze,

who goes on to score the goal that wins the World Cup,

but we also have players who only make League 2, and that's still a success.

We also want the lads to get the best academic qualifications possible.

Jacob Bruun Larsen and Christian Pulisic recently said

that was one reason why they came to Borussia Dortmund.

The overall package, including school, was right.

WELCOME

So I'll come to the point.

I have noticed that we are evidently not succeeding,

and I say this without apportioning any blame...

When we give full contracts to players from the under-19s,

it's usually to players we have signed from abroad.

Christian, or now Jacob.

What would benefit us, because the whole region is yearning for it,

would be if one player, just one player,

from the Ruhrgebiet would succeed with us,

someone we got our hands on at 14 or 15.

How do we do that again?

And what, if anything, do we have to change?

Or is it just chance? That's the central issue.

If you've never scouted,

your youth players are competing

with the most talented players abroad.

So we must keep trying to improve our youth development,

so they can make the grade.

That is our aim. And that is the aim

of Aki Watzke and Michael Zorc with regard to the youth academy.

We have a similar view.

Everyone here is talking about youth player Youssoufa Moukoko.

And it's not only here.

Our scouts around Europa keep getting asked about Youssoufa,

because what he's achieved at 14 is incredible.

Last year he scored more than 30 goals at under-17.

This year it will probably be over 40.

That's phenomenal at that age.

What's important for us, and I speak from my own experience,

is not to get carried away with expectations

about how many years he'll play for us, or about what titles he can win,

and instead to mentor him sensibly and keep him out of the media completely

and not to allow any interviews. And it's really difficult with him.

The kids in the stands sang a song about him when he scored a goal here.

It isn't that easy to handle.

We'll play six against six now, plus three neutrals.

That's you three for now. Okay?

There is a danger.

If I imagine that happening to me at that age? Good Lord!

But over the years, I've often seen players of 15 or 16

in our under-17s where I thought

they could become real greats. I saw it in Mario and he did.

I saw it in Nuri and he did.

But I've seen a few players with the same ability and it didn't happen.

MATCHDAY 31

It's always hard to explain to people who aren't from the Ruhrgebiet

what this match means.

They say it's folklore or marketing hype,

that it's not that dramatic. Yes it is!

I don't think there's ever been such a big gap between these two clubs.

DIRECTOR OF CONTRACT PLAYER DEPARTMENT 42 points!

Schalke are fighting to stay up.

But they also have a chance of avenging something.

I remember 2007 well, when we beat Schalke 2-0 here in Dortmund,

thus snatching their dream of becoming champions, and ruining it.

You could see that Schalke had a lot of respect for us in that game.

Solid, compact defense. It was hard for us to create chances.

Then there was that flash of genius by Sancho,

and of course the link-up, the run that Mario made.

That was a top-drawer goal.

And we all thought that's how it would continue.

What a brilliantly well-worked goal!

Jadon was hit by something!

A lighter hit him in the eye.

It bounced off my finger and went in his eye.

I spoke to the referee, because I think it's...

It's not okay that our player has to go off after we've scored.

That means we're a player down for a few minutes. That's insane.

Had that lighter not been thrown,

the ref would not have made the glaring error of not pausing the match.

Any normal referee would have done so, to calm things down.

And then the match would have taken a very different course.

Dortmund were still disorganized.

Most fans weren't concentrating on the game again yet.

Then there was that shot by Embolo.

SPORTS JOURNALIST Play continued, you followed the ball.

Suddenly the ref blew the whistle and at that moment nobody knew why.

What had he seen? Why had he stopped play?

He checked the video and gave a controversial penalty for hand-ball.

By the letter of the law, with these new idiotic rules,

you can give it.

Anyone with any understanding of football would never have given it.

Schalke didn't protest. No one did.

No one saw any reason to take action.

Damn it! They can't even reach the penalty box

and now they get a penalty.

It's ridiculous nowadays.

Football is becoming ridiculous.

They invented this rule.

They can't look themselves in the mirror.

It's the biggest scandal in football in many years.

Is nobody marking Embolo?

It all went very quickly.

We were still in a positive mood,

and suddenly we're 2-1 down.

We have to admit we didn't really recover from that.

We changed from zonal marking to a mix.

Some players were zone marking and others marking specific players.

We tried man-marking some of the team.

That doesn't work well and that was dumb of me.

We have a problem there, we have to train intensively.

With timing, and jumping as well.

Our players are not tall.

Some of the others are six foot three.

Then there was that scene at the half-way line.

Caligiuri hits the ball out of play with his hand. The linesman is there.

It's a throw-in. That might not seem like much,

but Caligiuri already had a yellow card

and he prevented a counter by Dortmund. It could have been his second yellow.

That would have changed the match.

I don't understand that rule anymore.

In the penalty box, every little thing is punished,

but outside the box it doesn't matter?

And it was such a clear-cut case. I think that's very unfortunate.

We felt unfairly treated, but we didn't channel it the right way.

Instead, we lost our nerve.

What is he doing?

Why?

That was a very unfortunate situation for me.

I wasn't happy about my own play, because I wasn't in the game.

And of course I shouldn't have gone into the tackle the way I did.

We should have kept our calm, but we didn't.

How many matches have we turned around? At home or away?

We have to stick to our system and stay patient,

to stick to our routines and our movements.

I don't know why we didn't.

I don't know why.

Then Caligiuri scored a goal from the free kick that followed.

In two minutes everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

Bravo, Zwayer!

Wolf was frustrated, that's inexcusable.

That's the sort of reaction we can't afford ourselves as Borussia Dortmund.

He'll have to reflect on that.

They weren't the better team. We even scored with nine men on the pitch.

But it was a drama which - and we have ourselves to blame for it -

left us flustered.

Losing a derby match is always very painful,

but considering what happened today, even more so.

But we have ourselves to blame.

Has the German Bundesliga been decided today?

Yes. Definitely.

I have to come to his defense.

20 minutes after the match is over, he has to provide answers.

That was his emotional state.

We got together after and that was

the way everyone felt, the supporters included.

But you can't say that.

We talked it over afterwards and he corrected himself.

MATCHDAY 31 NEXT DAY

89th MINUTE SCORE 1-1

We thought Bayern would beat Nuremberg about 4-0.

We all watched the match, and for the first time in a long time

I had sweaty palms watching another team,

because it was just that close.

It was insane. And then that one-on-one at the death...

I was sure that would be it. I thought,

"Okay. It's over. We did everything we could, but it wasn't good enough."

Coman runs towards goal all by himself and Mathenia keeps it out.

My heart was definitely racing.

There was this feeling of, "Hurray, we're still alive."

In the team, and in the whole city, too.

We had hope again.

We know it would be hard and it was out of our hands,

but what we could do was win nine points. We needed nine points.

And Bayern had to lose. And they don't lose twice in a row.

They might lose once. We all know that.

We're getting another chance, even though everyone thought it was over.

In a phase when everything is still possible, the team has to hold together.

TEAM CAPTAIN No matter what happens around us.

That's why, as captain, I didn't think twice about coming along with the team.

We support that completely and we spoke to him about it.

He knows that his tackle against Schalke was unfortunate.

He wants to encourage the guys with his presence

and show them that we're a team and we want to do this together.

We've actually always traveled to Bremen by train.

For a few players that was new, but I knew

that there might be a few fans asking us for autographs.

Normally we reserve separate compartments,

but as the trains were switched, that didn't quite work out.

But it wasn't a problem to go sit next to someone

who has nothing to do with Borussia or football.

We were very normal passengers.

I watched my favorite series and the trip was over in no time.

Maybe it's not the ideal way to prepare for a match,

but I really enjoy traveling by train with the team.

You spend two or three hours together in close quarters.

Paco and Axel sat next to me, and we talked about some amusing things,

so the trip there was a lot of fun.

MATCHDAY 32

We're in Bremen today for a decisive match.

We know we have to win. If we don't, it's practically over.

But if we do win today, everything can change. We'll have a new chance.

Because that would affect Bayern.

Our next match is at home, while Bayern play in Leipzig.

But our priority is to step on it today and put in a top performance.

In terms of quality, it was probably one of their best away games.

SPORTS JOURNALIST Many had already written Borussia off.

We made a bet before the free kick,

because both Rapha and Paco are very good free kick takers.

FORMER CAPTAIN We bet on who would take it.

As it was to the right, I thought Rapha wouldn't be denied, so I backed him,

while Marco bet on Paco.

That's why we laughed a bit more than usual,

but in the end we were just happy we got a goal.

We're all familiar with Paco's excellent shooting technique.

Before the free kick, I said to Schmelle, "It's going in."

It was from his favorite spot.

When you watch the ball's trajectory in slow motion,

you see the ball barely spins, it drops like a rock.

TEAM CAPTAIN For a keeper, that's impossible.

The match in Bremen is still a big mystery to me.

Until the 60th minute, it was even among their best performances of the season.

SPORTS JOURNALIST They also didn't take too many risks.

Sure, they did not convert enough chances.

If we'd taken our chances, the match would have been over

and they wouldn't have recovered.

But with each chance we squandered in that match,

Bremen gained more confidence.

That was clearly my fault. Anyone can see that.

I was very disappointed in myself and I wish that hadn't happened,

because we were in a very difficult point in the match.

We were under pressure and then a stupid mistake lets them back into the game.

An inexplicable mistake. That was tragic for Bürki.

It was a decisive moment. If that ball hadn't gone in,

Dortmund would probably have kept control of the match.

So Bremen were suddenly in with a chance while Dortmund looked shaky.

I feel downbeat. We lost control of the match,

and Bremen went all-in by bringing on Pizarro.

We made two individual errors today that we shouldn't have made,

and which cost us the points today.

It was their last chance

to put massive pressure on Bayern

with a clear victory at Werder Bremen.

I think that Bayern would have struggled with that, but it didn't work.

The way I see it, Borussia Dortmund

lost the league title that day.

LEAGUE TITLE SQUANDERED

SERIES OF SETBACKS

At our last home match, we want to put on a good display to end the season.

Of course we'll keep an eye on what's happening in Leipzig,

but we don't expect anything.

Hello, Mr. Zorc. - Mr. Westerschulz, how are you?

Of course it's a job that's affected a lot by day-to-day events.

And that affects your mental state,

and of course it affects your private life.

It depends on the results and day-to-day events.

Naturally.

It's our job to make the most of the opportunities

that we get at Borussia Dortmund.

You can't compare us to Munich,

because the economic differences are too big.

In car racing, you only win if you have enough horsepower, and we don't.

For a long time now, Markus Pilawa has been my most important staff member

in player acquisition and squad replacement.

We meet almost every day and we're always updating each other.

We also argue. I encourage him to share controversial opinions.

He shouldn't just say what I or the manager want to hear.

Hello. Good day.

You called?

I've been at the club for seven years.

So much has changed, it feels like 20 or 30 years.

But in the last two or three years things have changed even faster,

especially since the Neymar deal.

The transfer market has become very difficult.

It's a huge challenge for us,

with the means we have at our disposal,

to get good quality players.

I think everyone now understands how important the scouting department is.

There are no hidden players anymore. Everyone knows everyone.

That's the big challenge for me.

We have to take more risks, we have to pick up young talents

and develop them into top players.

That's always been our strategy, but now it's more important than ever.

Come in.

There he is, Zorci.

Sit down and enjoy.

And open your coffers.

I have to tend to the here and now.

I'll be right back. - Sure.

I prepare everything with my team. We do the hardest work of everyone.

We're always on the road, we sleep very little, we're always flying places.

That sounds nice and romantic, but often it's back-breaking work.

I present the results to Michael Zorc. That's the preliminary work.

It's then presented to the manager and to Aki Watzke.

In the end, Aki Watzke has to give the financial go-ahead.

We want to take the next step

in the relaunch we announced a year ago.

We intend to find a new player

for the left back position in the upcoming season.

We're also going to sign a player we've all known for years.

That's Julian Brandt, whose career we've watched over many years.

If we really get Brandt, then we gain the option

of playing in a 4-3-1 formation.

Then he could play in this, this or this position for us. - That's good.

If we play in a classic 4-3-3 formation, then he can...

Here's the defensive midfielder and the central midfielders.

He can play in this position or this position.

Plus this one becomes obsolete and the three forwards,

except for the false nine position.

Definitely.

We should definitely use him for the gaps,

for the build-up to creating goalscoring chances.

With 16 assists, he's leading in the Bundesliga.

He completes by far the most passes to the forwards.

So he's definitely someone who plays the last or second-to-last ball,

who passes to a winger making a run,

who can then square it so the nine can finish.

He's 23 years old, so he's got years ahead of him.

He just turned 23.

I think he's capable, thanks to the different surroundings

and because we are football fanatics and there's pressure to win,

of getting to another level.

In the past weeks, we made the decision

to sign Nico Schulz from Hoffenheim for the left back position.

He's developed so well in recent years, he's become a real machine.

And that suits our style, the way we want to play.

I've watched the Champions League the past few days,

and dynamics and pace are top criteria for top football in Europe.

Take a look at this: Maximum speed with Hakimi and Schulz.

That's definitely in the top ranks of the Bundesliga.

If you look at the maximum averages, or how often he sprinted...

He does that in every match. On the left and the right side.

So that means...

We're not choosing the formation. That's up to the manager.

We can only build the framework.

The match started badly for Borussia before the starting whistle.

Roman Bürki had gotten injured. The old hamstring problems.

So Marwin Hitz had to be in goal, who hadn't played in a long time.

You're always prepared to play,

but if you haven't in a long time, it's always strange.

The routines have changed and you have to try to get into the game.

That's not always easy.

It's a bit of a thankless task,

but when it's your job, then you have to make the best of it.

It's a very emotional day for me. I'm playing my last home match.

I'm very grateful for the five years I've spent here. It's been great.

HALF TIME

I always do that during half-time,

so I don't wind down or cool down too much and so I stay in the game.

Unfortunately, it didn't help.

It was grotesque.

I was already looking away,

because Fink's header was so weak and misdirected

that I was already thinking of the next attack. Maybe Hitz thought the same.

It was not a very dangerous header, which you should hold.

Which I tried to do, but then failed completely.

Unfortunately it went through my legs and into the goal. An own goal.

I was wondering, "How could you let that one in?"

CEO It was slapstick.

I've seen goals like that before,

but I've never seen a team have two different goalkeepers

conceding almost identical goals within one week.

I've seen a lot of things in 50 years of watching football,

but that was new.

You want to help your team,

so if you hurt it by making a mistake, that's not a great feeling.

You also think about the club and the fans.

The league is very tight, so it's extremely important to keep up

and of course it's also a huge relief.

We bumped into each other and the referee blew the whistle.

I'd hurt my head a little, but I knew that it was a penalty

and that I'd be obliged to save it.

I knew he'd missed his last penalty and wasn't bursting with confidence.

I wasn't either, after both of my mistakes,

but the pressure is on the taker,

so I tried to wait and I noticed he began to hesitate.

You're standing in the stadium,

and you feel like the last ten minutes were the worst of your career.

There's so much at stake. There's a lot going through your head.

But as a keeper you can't request to be substituted

and say, "I'm having a bad day, I'm going off."

92nd MINUTE

Normally it would be game over, leading 3-1 at home with an extra man.

But at the moment many things aren't going the way they'd normally go.

How we conceded the goals and the individual mistakes we made...

We were sleeping at the back. It's a lot to digest, to be honest.

Then we heard it was 0-0 in the Bayern match,

and that we could move up if we won,

so my legs started feeling heavier.

We wanted to make things exciting.

But after going 3-1 up, and with one man extra, we could have made it easier.

Of course the last few weeks have left their mark.

The leads we squandered...

We're showing signs of nerves, we're not secure anymore.

We have no control over the game anymore,

especially when we're in the lead, which should give us security.

We'll have to analyze that after the season.

Right now, I don't have an answer either.

It was a very odd final phase,

after which Borussia were nevertheless back in the title race

and still had a chance to win the trophy.

15:30 MÖNCHENGLADBACH - DORTMUND 16:30 THEN HOTEL

I think it was important for the Bundesliga.

The tedium of the past few years was really exhausting.

Bayern always won the title, usually as early as April.

Once even in March.

Nobody needs that.

OK, guys. We want to win this match.

We have no choice. Anything is possible.

We don't know what will happen. But we have to focus on our game.

Don't watch what the others are doing. Our match is what counts.

We must win, but we have to be clever.

We have to be at our best in defense and at winning possession.

When it's difficult, we have to defend. We have to be a team.

We have time to win.

The situation is such that anything is possible.

Of course we depend on Eintracht Frankfurt to win,

but after the derby it was almost over.

I think few believed that we'd get another chance.

We'd gotten another draw in Bremen, but we still had a chance.

This year, anything is possible.

and if there's a sensation, we might still even be able to win the league.

19:00 MEETING 19:30 DINNER

He's played an incredible season.

Of course he knows he couldn't have done it without his colleagues.

He knows they turned a blind eye sometimes

and supported him when he arrived two minutes late.

That was good.

To end the season, we've still got one of the best teams to beat.

They had a very good first half of the season, ending it in second place.

They had some problems in the second half and changed their formation,

but in the last match they went back to playing 4-3-3.

We expect they'll play a similar tactic to last week,

with Kramer as the defensive midfielder

and Zakaria and Hofmann in central midfield.

But Cuisance and Strobl could also play in these positions.

They rotate and constantly change positions.

They have someone who can initiate that well.

Pay attention to Neuhaus and Zakaria.

They change position. The four forwards pull Hoffenheim apart.

Now they've got what they wanted,

they've created gaps between defense and offense and play between their lines.

They want to play, but they make mistakes.

They have big problems on the wings,

they've made a lot of individual mistakes in the past few weeks.

Aki Watzke sent a clear message to Munich.

"The pressure is on the south.

Bayern have everything to lose, we have nothing to lose."

So you make yourself believe that.

That was a very clever move of his, because it took pressure off the team.

He told them they'd fulfilled their expectations.

At the same time, he gave the Dortmund fans the feeling

it might really still be possible.

Many of them traveled to Mönchengladbach feeling hopeful.

Especially as Frankfurt had a great season and had everything to play for.

MATCHDAY 34

Of course it's a little bit for show.

Someone has to take the initiative and spread some optimism,

because self-fulfilling prophecies like that help sometimes.

And if you, as club boss, go to the press and say,

"To be honest, I've lost all hope."

That would be wrong.

I don't care how delighted people might be when I'm proven wrong.

It was important to get us in the right state of mind.

Of course there's always hope.

but to think that Bayern Munich would really lose at home in their last match

when the German league title is at stake...

You need a lot of hope.

No matter what happens, believe in it!

We have to believe in it. We've played so many matches.

Believe in it! We have 90 minutes for this game.

Come on!

The first 15 minutes were difficult. It was a special situation, too.

Everything was at stake for Mönchengladbach as well.

That's how they went into the game, and we were barely able to make tackles.

SCORE 1-0

That news was welcomed with cheers in Mönchengladbach,

as they hoped to qualify for the Champions League,

while the Borussia Dortmund fans thought, "Okay, that was it."

That curious scene shows you the madness of video assistance refereeing.

Two years ago it would have been unthinkable

to hear that a goal has been disallowed by the video assistant referee.

But for Dortmund it meant there was still hope.

We didn't start well.

But after 15 or 20 minutes, you could say we were playing better,

we had better control over it.

And the 1-0 lead was very important.

We went into half time leading 1-0, with the Bayern match still tight.

So we thought, "We have 45 minutes left. We'll win here

and cross our fingers that Frankfurt help us."

HALF TIME

That's how we went into half time. We said to ourselves,

"Today we're not going to step off the gas in the second half.

Today we want to be there from the first minute to the last."

It's not easy against a 4-5 wall of players.

We don't have much space and we have to move around more.

We have to play here, to lead the game.

To direct the match.

Wide players, be patient and wait.

1-0 is perfect. We'll try to make it 2-0, but 1-0 is fine.

We have to try to make it 2-0.

That's our game.

SCORE 1-0

We definitely felt some euphoria.

Shortly after half time it was 1-1. Maybe something was possible.

I thought to myself

that I might have work to do on Sunday,

SPORTS JOURNALIST reporting from Borsigplatz.

Right after the equalizer, they took the lead again.

That shows you their strength of nerve

and of course that affected Dortmund's match.

Bayern's response was just too clear to leave space for any doubts.

We put everything into it, emotionally as well,

to make the impossible possible.

We're all a little down at the moment.

We still had hope during the match,

especially after they reported that Frankfurt had equalized.

We now realize that, even though we had a very good year,

in the end it wasn't enough to win the title.

Right now, all the power is flowing out of my body.

To be honest.

We didn't make it, so of course we're very disappointed.

We believed that Frankfurt would pull off a stunt in Munich.

Still, we had a very good season.

76 points, that wasn't planned. Nobody expected that.

The third best point score in the history of Dortmund.

But that's how it is. I'm still a little bit disappointed.

Of course, 76 points is a great result.

That's a great overall performance by the team in a period

immediately after an extremely difficult season.

You shouldn't forget that.

On the other hand, they could have also won 80 points. It is what it is.

I think it came down to a certain lack of title-winning maturity.

That's something we acquire bit by bit.

And I think that's possible with this team.

Perhaps in the new season, we'll approach matches

like the one in Augsburg or Düsseldorf differently.

We picked up 27 out of 30 points against the best teams.

We only lost in Munich.

We only got 20 out of 30 points from the lower half of the league.

If you want to become German champions, you have to win those matches, too.

Clap! Last interview.

GERMAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR 2019

SUPERCUP WINNERS 2019