You won’t convince many BVB fans that Leipzig are good for football but on a tempestuous night at the Westfalenstadion they were good for their team
Die Gelbe Wand, the famous yellow wall, is never less than vocal but on Saturday it spoke loudest without the aid of air or lungs. As their Borussia Dortmund prepared to kick off the Bundesliga’s game of the weekend, against RB Leipzig, the banners came out – some big, some small, maybe 100 of them, maybe more. The strength of feeling that habitually emanates from Europe’s biggest standing terrace is well known, but this was something else.
They all shared similar messages. “Bullen Schweine,” “Red Bull – Feind des Fussballs!” (“football’s enemy”), and even a few in English such as “Beer is a passion, RB is a fashion” were among the politer banners. That there was such animosity was no great surprise. The high-flying newcomers have attracted protests against their unashamedly corporate governance everywhere they’ve been this season, but few have been as emphatic in their condemnation of the Red Bull model than Dortmund.
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