For a while now, 'Der Klassiker' has been held up as Germany's biggest game. But a Ruhr derby that had just about everything threw the form book - and logic - out of the window and proved that this is the real deal.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Kirchner
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"That’s brave," one Dortmund fan said to his friend outside the Westfalenhallen, near Signal Iduna Park, before Saturday's 4-4 draw. They were looking at a group of Schalke fans who had briefly walked through a large crowd of Dortmund supporters before breaking off into the away section.
With one win in their last nine games and their head coach seemingly on the brink, thoughts of a Borussia Dortmund victory would have seemed equally brave at that point.
But derbies are different. They mean more. They are the reason why a yellow mist descended on the stadium ahead of the game and the reason why Borussia Dortmund were initially aggressive, ruthless and dominant in a way that echoed performances under their previous head coach.
Derbies mean more
Local rivalry is also why the foundations of the stadium shook after the first goal, and why the Südtribune spilled out in fury at the end of the game, dumbfounded at what they had just seen. Their team needed just 25 minutes to win this derby – and just 33 minutes to lose it. It was a remarkable performance from Peter Bosz’s side – in both senses of the word.
From Nuri Sahin’s first pump to the Yellow Wall before he cleared a Schalke corner to Mario Götze’s header to finish off an incredible counterattack for the third goal, Dortmund were superb early on. All the fight, all the aggression, all the execution that had been missing for the past few weeks had returned.
But it wasn't there to stay. In the same jaw-dropping way Dortmund blew Schalke away, they fell apart the moment Amine Harit scored the visitors' second.
A game for Germany
The Ruhr derby is the game that represents German football at its best – and Saturday’s edition of the fixture was further proof of that. In the 11-minute spell in the second half that saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sent off and Roman Weidenfeller make an incredible reflex save, Dortmund went from comfortable to crumbling.
Derbies are never just won – they are earned – and Schalke won this one even though the points were shared.
Rather than going for vulnerable Dortmund’s jugular in the opening exchanges, Schalke allowed their hosts to do what they do best and get on the front foot. But after that shambolic start, Domenico Tedesco did what he does best and adapted. Two substitutions after the fourth goal and one at the start of the second half changed Schalke. They turned chaos into momentum and after Daniel Caligiuri's brilliant individual goal closed the gap to one, Schalke's away support were singing of how they were the best side in the region. Then Naldo scored a 94th-minute equalizer to give their words more weight.
Daniel Caligiuri's third stepped up the pressure on Dortmund Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/C. Koepsel
Bayern Munich vs. Dortmund has been the Bundesliga's marquee rivalry in recent years. The two clubs are the country’s top two teams but, from budgets to cities, the pair contrast starkly both on and off the pitch.
A match that had it all
The Ruhr derby is a contest based more on shared identity and history. One that has given us Jens Lehmann scoring a last-minute winner, Batman and Robin masks and now this – a thrilling game with two contrasting halves, a draw that feels like a victory to one team and defeat to another.
It had brawls at fulltime as tension spilled over, eight goals and was the first time a Bundesliga side had come from 4-0 down to get a result since 1976. It had Peter Bosz repeating the words 'this can’t happen' afterwards like he was in a trance, and Domenico Tedesco admitting he hadn't believed they would turn it around at the break.
It had everything. Derbies are different – and this was further proof that this one is Germany’s biggest fixture.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Schalke: The mother of all German derbies
Dortmund host Schalke behind closed doors on Saturday in the latest, and strangest, edition of the Revierderby in the Bundesliga. Here we look back at some of the most memorable moments in Germany's fiercest rivalry.
Image: picture-alliance/Fotostand/Wundrig
Legendary Naldo!
In April, Schalke scored their first derby win since 2014. Naldo proved the hero once more, scoring an incredible free kick to end the contest and write his name into the Royal Blues' history book. In doing so, the 35-year-old Brazilian went one better than his late, great equalizer that marked an incredible comeback from a four-goal deficit in the first fixture of the 2017-18 season.
Image: Reuters/L. Kuegeler
Four-goal comeback
The first Revierderby of 2017-18 was without a doubt one of the most exciting. Dortmund dominated from the kickoff, going up by four goals in the first half hour. Schalke staged a comeback in the second half. Central defender Naldo (bottom left) scored with a header four minutes into time added on to give Schalke a 4-4 draw in Dortmund.
Image: picture-alliance/Fotostand/Wundrig
BVB win in the fog
The fog was so thick in Dortmund in November 1966, that some referees might have declined to go ahead with the match. Not Gerd Henning: "Every time somebody kicked the ball into the fog, I chased after it," he said afterwards. "It was strenuous, but it was okay. BVB dealt better with the conditions, winning 6-2. Lothar Emmerich's hat trick is the only one ever scored in a Ruhr derby.
Image: Imago/Horstmüller
Fido bites Friedel
One of the strangest things to happen during a Revierderby came in Dortmund in September 1969. After a Schalke goal, some of the spectators invaded the pitch, so the stewards used dogs to drive them back. One of the dogs bit Schalke defender Friedel Rausch in the backside. Despite his pain, Rausch was able to play on.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A goal against his future club
In December 1997, Schalke goalkeeper Jens Lehmann (fourth from left) scored a last-minute goal to earn team a 2-2 draw in Dortmund. Among the players who have been on both sides of the Ruhr derby, Lehmann is the record holder, having made 11 appearances for for Schalke and nine for Dortmund.
Image: ullstein bild - Firo
Penalty spoiler
Frank Rost was the man of the match in Dortmund in January 2004. The Schalke goalkeeper saved two penalties, first from Jan Koller, then from Torsten Frings. Rost would go on to keep a clean sheet and Ebbe Sand's goal shortly before the final whistle gave Schalke a 1-0 win.
Image: picture-alliance /dpa/F.-P. Tschauner
Longest undefeated streak
The derby in Dortmund was also decided by a single Schalke goal. This time it was the Brazilian Ailton (right) who got the winner. This extended Schalke's undefeated streak in the derby to 12 matches — the longest in the long history of encounters between Schalke and BVB.
Image: picture-alliance/Ulmer/B. Hacke
Royal Blue hopes dashed
One of the most bitter derby encounters for Schalke. In Dortmund in May of 2007, Schalke's hopes of winning the Bundesliga title ebbed away. In the penultimate match of the season Alexander Frei and Ebi Smolarek (second from right) both scored in a Dortmund win. Schalke players Christian Pander (left) and Fabian Ernst are not impressed.
Image: picture-alliance/Ulmer/L. Coch
Back from the dead
After an hour of play in Dortmund in September 2008, Schalke were up 3-0 and looked to have all but won the match. After BVB pulled one back, though, Schalke had two players sent off in the space of five minutes. Dortmund got two more to earn a 3-3 draw. The last one was this Alexander Frei penalty in the 89th minute.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Scheidemann
Fan trouble
So intense is the rivalry that there can be trouble between groups of supporters. Brawls broke out in October 2012 in Dortmund, as well as a year later in Gelsenkirchen. Both clubs went as far as to threaten to play future derbies behind closed doors — but clearly it hasn't come to that.
Image: picture alliance/Sven Simon
Batman and Robin
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (left) scored the goal that put Dortmund up 1-0 at Signal Iduna Park in February of 2015. He and teammate Marco Reus celebrated by donning previously hidden Batman and Robin masks. "We like to have a bit of fun," Reus explained afterwards. Dortmund went on to win 3-0.
Image: Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images
A red card for the ref
In the most recent derby, in Gelsenkirchen in April 2017, Schalke's mascot, Erwin, showed referee Felix Zwayer the red card. Zwayer had denied the Royal Blues a penalty in time added on. Schalke's coach, Markus Weinzierl (third from right) protested a little too vigorously and was sent to the stands. The match ended 1-1 and a warning issued by the DFB (German FA) to Erwin.
