With many emotions and a few tears, Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund said goodbye to its Polish crowd favourites Lukasz Piszczek and Jakub Blaszczykowski – but above all celebrated the BVB legends Mats Hummels and Jürgen Klopp.
The 2014 world champion, who moved to AS Roma in Italy a few days ago after more than 13 years and 508 competitive matches for Dortmund, had already made his big appearance before kick-off: the 35-year-old waved in front of the south stand and did a lap of honour.
Klopp, who was once again on the BVB coaching bench for the “farewell match” in front of 81,365 spectators under the motto “Bye-bye”, visibly enjoyed the reunion with old companions. “It’s like a class reunion,” said the 57-year-old, who returned as Dortmund coach nine years after his last game, on Sky: “That’s what I’ve always dreamed of, that we’ll meet again at some point in life and just have a good time together.”
After leaving Liverpool, Klopp didn’t have to think long about whether he wanted to coach his former players again. The teams “Kuba” and “Piszczu” included the current BVB coach Nuri Sahin, the Rio World Champions Hummels, Roman Weidenfeller, Kevin Grosskreutz and Erik Durm as well as former stars such as Dede, Neven Subotic and Henrich Mchitarjan.
Please use Chrome browser to use our video player with optimal performance!
4:12
Mats Hummels on his departure from Borussia Dortmund.
Hummels, who had trained in Rome that morning and had driven to the stadium on an e-scooter because of a traffic jam on the B1, was substituted after 25 minutes. “It’s a mixture of joy and sadness. I’ve spent a lot of my footballing life here,” said the defender, who was substituted again in the second half: “It’s nice that we’ve found such a framework.” In the end, Klopp and Team “Cuba” won 5:4.
SID
All other important news from the world of sport can be found in the News Update.
Related News :