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The newly-crowned German champions were scheduled to begin their parade at precisely 12:09 p.m. on Sunday. They’d end Bayern Munich’s decade of dominance, then etch their names into Dortmund’s ceremonial Golden Book, then roll through yellow-lined streets in an open-top bus. They’d take a lap and a half around the Borsigplatz, Borussia Dortmund’s birthplace. They’d snake southwest, and through downtown, saluting hundreds of thousands of gleeful fans as they went.
Or at least that’s how Dortmund, the city and its soccer club, had planned to celebrate their impending 2022-23 Bundesliga title.
Instead, on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund blew it — and Bayern won it again.
All Dortmund needed was a win over Mainz, a nondescript team who’d lost four straight games and had nothing to play for. Instead, before an expectant and ear-splitting crowd of 81,365, with thousands more preparing to explode in celebration outside, Dortmund conceded an early goal, then missed a penalty, then conceded again.
They gleaned fleeting hope and jubilation from Bayern’s simultaneous finale in Köln. The hosts erased Bayern’s 1-0 lead, and for four, five, six, seven minutes and counting, the title was Dortmund’s. News filtered through to the Signal Iduna Park and reignited it. Dortmund was still losing, 2-1, but its fans nonetheless began their eruption.
Then came the cruel, crushing blow. Jamal Musiala spun and fired Bayern into a 2-1 lead, back to the top of the table, and to an 11th consecutive title.
Dortmund equalized with a minute of stoppage time remaining, but needed a winner, and couldn’t find one. After a frantic final push, with Bayern players watching on Thomas Muller’s phone in Köln, Dortmund players heard the final whistle and sunk to the grass. The stadium, one of soccer’s great cauldrons of noise, fell deathly silent. And the streak entered its second decade.