“Felt worse than 2013”

After the dramatically missed title chance on the last day of the Bundesliga, BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke gave a glimpse into his inner life. “It hurts a lot. I’ve been doing this job for a long time, but yesterday it felt even worse than the lost Champions League final in 2013,” said Watzke the day after Borussia Dortmund’s 2-2 win against Mainz 05 table football.

However, BVB is “a club that recovers quickly from something like this. In the Ruhr area, we are doomed to get up again and again,” explained the managing director of the black and yellow, who only won the bowl again from the series champions Bayern Munich because of the worse goal difference had to leave.

After the record champions took the lead early on in the parallel game at 1. FC Köln, “one or the other player didn’t deal with the pressure that the early goal from Munich caused so well,” Watzke noted. Dortmund was 2-0 down after 24 minutes, while top scorer Sebastien Haller also missed a penalty, which according to Watzke was “the sticking point in a brutal first half”.

Bayern still conceded 1-1 in Cologne, which would have made BVB champions – but the record champion made it 2-1 late, while BVB was only able to equalize against Mainz. “The fans supported us so well, gave us so much support, even after the game, in the middle of this pain. It must be an obligation to continue now,” explained Watzke.

In his opinion, Dortmund deserved their ninth championship because of the 40 points in the second half of the season. “That’s a masterly value,” said the 63-year-old, but added: “We didn’t lose the championship yesterday, we did it in the first half of the season.”

He announced a final analysis with sports director Sebastian Kehl and trainer Edin Terzic for the coming week. “Then we will make our conclusions for the new season,” said the club boss, who attested to Terzic’s “fantastic work”.