Dortmund’s title dreams in tatters after shock home draw to Mainz

[1/3] Soccer Football – Bundesliga – Borussia Dortmund v 1. FSV Mainz 05 – Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany – May 27, 2023 Borussia Dortmund’s Anthony Modeste, Emre Can, Sebastien Haller, Youssoufa Moukoko and Raphael Guerreiro look dejected after the match REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

DORTMUND, Germany, May 27 (Reuters) – Borussia Dortmund’s dream of their first Bundesliga title in 11 years turned into a nightmare on Saturday after a shock 2-2 home draw to Mainz 05 dropped them to second place on goal difference in the season finale, handed the title to rivals Bayern Munich.

With a sea of tens of thousands of yellow and black-clad fans outside the stadium and a sold-out 81,000 crowd inside ready to pop the champagne for their first league crown since 2012, Dortmund went into the game in top spot.

Dortmund had ordered more than 120,000 litres of beer according to club bosses but in the end there was nothing to celebrate for fans, players or coaching staff in one of the most bitter season endings for the Ruhr valley club.

“Congratulations to Bayern because this is the most honest title, being top after 34 matches,” a teary-eyed coach Edin Terzic said. “Forgive me because it is not easy to give an analysis today but I think that not only the team, but the stadium and the city believed it.

“But the legs were heavy after the two goals. You see how tough and hard the sport is that we chose to love. It is hard when you see only one goal is missing. There was no happy end for us and hurts a lot.

“Today is the toughest (sporting) moment you can imagine and feels a bit unfair,” he added. “This matchday will hurt for a long time. This is now also part of our path. From tomorrow we are 34 matches away from it again and we will stand back up.”

The visitors stunned Mainz snatching the lead through Andreas Hanche-Olsen’s header at the near post in the 15th minute.

Dortmund’s Sebastien Haller had a golden chance to level and lift some of the mounting the pressure on his team just four minutes later but he saw his weak penalty saved.

It got even worse in the 24th when Karim Onisiwo was left with far too much space in the box to drill in his header, shocking the hosts and silencing the stadium.

A second half attempted comeback did not yield immediate results, even as coach Edin Terzic brought in captain Marco Reus and striker Karim Adeyemi.

Mainz, playing without any pressure, made it hard for Dortmund who needed to up the tempo further and cut the deficit with Raphael Guerreiro’s shot in the 69th.

With the fans growing louder again the hosts poured forward with substitute teenager Julien Duranville injecting new life into Dortmund’s game.

They levelled deep in stoppage time with Niklas Suele but ran out of time for a winner, with the players left lying on the grass, their heads in their hands and tears in their eyes for the missed title shot.

“It is very difficult to process this today,” said Dortmund defender Mats Hummels. “This is a brutal disappointment today.

“We should have finished this off but we didn’t. The next few days will be brutal. I can’t really comprehend it.”

Reporting by Karolos Grohmann Editing by Christian Radnedge

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