No one knows what has happened to Borussia Dortmund. The club that was in the Champions League Final only two years ago is now dead last in the Bundesliga, and in serious, serious risk or being relegated. It goes beyond just losing Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski. Even the injuries cannot explain it all.
Dortmund has just been bad — really, really, bad — and their fans have had enough. They are enraged, confused, and looking for answers from a team that has disappointed them over and over again.
Normally, such a search would be futile. Clubs never actually console their fans in times of distress, or actually answer questions with anything other than coach-speak and platitudes. But this week, after Dortmund lost — again — to Augsburg, something amazing happened. Two players, Matts Hummels and Roman Weidenfeller, actually walked up to the enraged fans who had come out to support their team, and talked to them.
That is what fans of a team in complete disarray look like. There is utter despair in their eyes, an incredulous need to have this all explained. How? How? You don’t need to speak German to understand what they are saying. How could this happen? How could you let this happen?
By the time Weidenfeller has climbed the fence, the scene no longer looks like it is from a soccer match. It looks like we have been inexplicably transported to some civil rights protest, and Weidenfeller is trying desperately to prevent it from becoming violent.
Next time your team loses a game and you feel like the world is ending, remember this scene. This is what it looks like when a team utterly collapses.
