The stand-in coach, a die-hard fan, wrote his place in club history with a trophy and a return to the Champions League. It would take a hard heart not to feel something or at least to appreciate the journey, especially in the context of a gruelling season. A lot of fluctuating emotions have been packed into this extraordinary and uncomfortable campaign for a whole lot of clubs for a whole lot of reasons, but Borussia Dortmund and their coach have been through the wringer as much as any.
This week, it all came good. Perhaps fittingly in a German season that has belonged to Robert Lewandowski, the dessert came before the main for his old club.
Six weeks, ago, to be precise. This was no meltdown, of course, but losing out on the financial bounty of the Champions League in this of all years was going to hurt. This article includes content provided by Instagram.
We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. After that costly loss in the first weekend of April, BVB were seven points off the top four. It said to Dortmund that we know your plan is to keep Haaland for a year until the summer of , but we are in control of this.
The England winger has been excellent in , going the extra mile to step up a level from dietary adjustments to 5am late winter solo runs through the city centre, and he came up big in this last week. After scoring a brace, including the late winner, in the vital Bundesliga win over Leipzig last weekend, he was then the standout in the Pokal final, opening the scoring with a rasping finish and adding a second.
