The season begins sadly and ends as usual. But the entertainment value of the Bundesliga is still unusually high – and that has mainly to do with a new favorite coach, a crazy dog and many small, moving and funny stories and anecdotes.
While the first day of the 59th Bundesliga season was still underway, news shocked football fans in Germany. On August 15, Gerd Müller dies. The Bundesliga mourns. A few weeks before his death, Paul Breitner found the right words about his former teammate, the 1974 world champion and long-time record goalscorer in the Bundesliga: “For me, after 1954, Gerd is the greatest of all of us. Many of our generation owe him a lot “I wouldn’t be here either without Gerd Müller. The unbelievable success story of FC Bayern and the German national team would be unthinkable without Gerd Müller.”
When the league finally really starts, it’s actually almost over. Already on the fifth day of play, FC Bayern took the lead in the table and then never gave it up again. After all, one could say that FC Bayern Munich only crossed the finish line to the championship on the 31st matchday with a 3-1 home win against the most stubborn pursuer, BVB. It is the tenth Bundesliga title in a row. That evening, only one car appears for the motorcade on Leopoldstrasse – and a camera team: “Where did you leave the other party-goers?” Answer from the car: “I’m not the only one. We still have three or four party people in the car. The mood is awesome. Tenth championship – we love it!” Well then.
And while some speak of “yawning boredom”, others recall that children who started school ten years ago and have never seen a German champion other than Bayern are now about to graduate from high school. However, this is only partly due to the fatal dominance of the “master of routine” (Deutschlandfunk). Worse is the shocking lack of prospects of the alleged pursuers from Dortmund, Leipzig or Leverkusen.
Remain human, that’s what matters
Especially at BVB, little is going on this season under the new coach Marco Rose. There is always a lot of fuss about Erling Haaland at the front – because he is either injured or the rumors of transfers around Borsigplatz are being hotly debated – and at the back the defense has almost set a new negative record, which is only topped by the results in 1986 . Because the last time there was such a bad cut was in the year of relegation. It’s understandable that Mats Hummels says annoyed at some point: “We play a lot of nonsensical and illogical football and make the opponent unnecessarily strong.”
One of the teams of the season is the promoted team from Bochum. VfL player Gerrit Holtmann secured the title of “Goal of the Year” in the second game with his slalom goal against FSV Mainz 05. After a spectacular 4:3 away win at Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 32, the club celebrates not being relegated. With a good sense of proportion, VfL coach Thomas Reis has managed to form a real team with heart and passion: “It’s no use if I want to play tiki-taka and only have brick-pushers in the squad.”
“Our job is also about staying human. That’s more important than anything else.” The new Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart is not only taking the hearts of FC fans by storm this season. His genuine manner (“If I soon have to write a doctoral thesis before I go to the interview, then I should be told beforehand”) also inspires many other Bundesliga fans. And with his goalscorer Anthony Modeste, he also has his biggest fan directly in the team. He’s allowed to spray Baumgart with water or steal his famous hat. In return, Baumgart is allowed to rebuke Modeste, as happened before a pre-season test game: “A game is only over when the referee whistles and I stop shouting.”
Aytekin is allowed to bump into Haaland
Two legendary actions by Steffen Baumgart will remain in the memory of football fans for a particularly long time: During the away game in the Ruhr Stadium, he sings along with the classic “Bochum” by Herbert Grönemeyer, and in corona quarantine he watches his team – as usual with commitment and loudly – together with the entire family and dog too.
Ben Redelings is a passionate “chronicler of football madness” and a supporter of the glorious VfL Bochum. The bestselling author and comedian lives in the Ruhr area and maintains his legendary anecdote treasure chest. for ntv.de he writes down the most exciting and funniest stories on Mondays and Saturdays. More information about Ben Redelings, his current dates and his book with the best columns (“Between Puff and Barcelona”) can be found on his page www.scudetto.de.
At the end of January, Gladbach’s manager Max Eberl was at “by far the hardest PK” of his career. He was “broken and exhausted”, he admits with tears – and resigns from his post at Borussia with immediate effect: “Football is my life. Everything around it is no longer my life. I have to get out and take care of myself and my health pay attention. I left everything I had on the pitch. I tried for this club like a child. But I don’t have the strength anymore.” Christoph Kramer admires Eberl as a person for taking this difficult step: “He shows me once again how brave, strong, far-sighted and intelligent he is.”
Referee Denis Aytekin told one of the nicest anecdotes of the season after the BVB game at TSG Hoffenheim about the Norwegian superstar Erling Haaland: “Yesterday he pushed his opponent away slightly and then I told him that he actually didn’t need to do that . Then he said he was mad. Then I said I’m mad sometimes too. Then he offered me to push him away. And then we both laughed and it went on.”
Kruse and Magath will not become colleagues
Back to the bare results. In the relegation battle, it became apparent early on that the first league was a size too big for the promoted team from Fürth. Surprisingly, Hertha from Berlin then gradually slipped deep into the table basement – and caused one of the surprises of the season with the commitment of the old hand Felix Magath. And “Quälix” had an idea early on how the season could end: “When I took on this job, I was sure that we would play in the relegation against HSV. I’m not working towards that. But it wouldn’t do me either surprised if it came to this constellation.” And indeed: That’s exactly how it happened now. It will be interesting to see how the duel with his old great love ends in the relegation.
But no matter how and where Felix Magath will be employed in the future, he can’t count on one person in any case. When, towards the end of the season, Max Kruse was again sitting at home in front of his laptop camera with the shisha pipe in his hand and his wife Dilara at his side, he grinned at his viewers on “Twitch”: “I go everywhere. But never to Magath. He’s a scoundrel! He’s sick. He makes medicine balls until people puke!” For the self-confessed chocolate paste lover Kruse, who eats what feels like a million Nutella rolls in the morning, this is probably not a very good alternative. Ex-colleague Christopher Lenz on the pound guy: “No other player would be able to run two kilometers with his stomach.”
And how will the anniversary season – the Bundesliga celebrates its 60th birthday next season – end? In any case, one is not quite so optimistic that something will change up there at the top of the table any time soon. Uli Hoeneß has to suppress a smile when he talks about Bayern’s tame competition in the fight for the championship: “They’ve been trying for ten years now. Why should they make it next year?” Well, why? We will see.