By Samindra Kunti in Dortmund
April 12 – It should have been a 90-minute football fest of supremely gifted talents, coached by Thomas Tuchel and Leonardo Jardim, two of the best in the business.
But instead explosives shattered window screens of the Dortmund team bus, injuring defender Marc Bartra in the process, and shocked the entire Dortmund squad on a bizarre and eerie evening in Nordrhein-Westfalen, an evening that plunged the European game temporarily into a state of fear.
The morning after was unusually normal. At AS Monaco’s team hotel a dozen police officers were guarding the entrance. It wasn’t an impenetrable fort but still a contrast with the day before when fans were sipping beers in the bar of the hotel and Prince Albert II of Monaco came to greet the AS delegation.
At the stadium, walking distance from Monaco’s hotel, vehicles were checked but there was no deployment of officers or any visible signs of enhanced security. By lunch time, however, local authorities had upped their game with a visible presence of police officers and private security agents.
Downtown, in Dortmund’s small centre, shoppers went about their business, relaxed. Fans from both clubs didn’t show any real sense of apprehension about the explosion when talking to Insideworldfootball. The ‘targeted’ attack happened seven miles south of the stadium and, as the police had stressed throughout Tuesday night, there was no immediate danger to those inside or in the vicinity of the ground. The fans reflected that in their opinions.
At the time the explosion happened, no-one panicked inside the ground but rather seemed to accept and even be resigned to the fact that this kind of thing is simply the world we live in today, without specifically linking the incident to terrorism.
Yet Tuesday had begun with much promise and a crackle in the air. This was Dortmund playing Monaco, the City slayers. As kick-off approached the atmosphere built nicely for a mouth-watering fixture of avant-garde football featuring a star cast of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembele, Julian Weigl, Kylian Mbappé, Thomas Lemar and Bernardo Silva.
Some of them may soon become property of the most money-no-object Premier League clubs but they didn’t get a chance to star at the legendary Westfalenstadion. At least not for 24 hours.
Outside the ground, French supporters, who had driven all the way from the principality, were searching for car parks. Queues were forming at food vans, selling local ‘grillschinken.’
Then broke the news – first as a rumour in the press room, then among fans and on social media. On the team bus Roman Bürki, Dortmund’s Swiss goalkeeper, was sitting next to Marc Bartra, who was injured in the explosion and will require surgery. He later explained what had happened.
“The bus turned on the main road when there was suddenly a huge bang, a proper explosion,” said Bürki. “The police were quickly on the spot and handled the situation. We were all in shock … After the bang, we all ducked and those who could lie on the floor did so. We didn’t know what was going to happen next.”
Inside the stadium, Norbert Dickel, on Dortmund’s PA, addressed the fans, assuring supporters that there was no threat in and around the ground. They reacted calmly and left serenely.
“The team is in shock,” reacted visibly-shaken Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke. “We must get through this.”
Details began to emerge of the assault, described by Dortmund city’s police chief as a “targeted attack” against the team. Investigators disclosed the existence of a letter, found near the crime scene. German newspaper The Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote that the letter began with the phrase “in the name of Allah”, and mentioned Germany’s use of Tornado jets in the coalition forces fighting so-called Islamic State (IS).
This afternoon Germany’s federal prosecution held a press conference as they took over the probe. They tend to lead terror investigations. “Two suspects from the Islamist spectrum have become the focus of our investigation,” said Frauke Koehler, a spokeswoman for Germany’s federal state prosecutor in Karlsruhe. “Both of their apartments were searched, and one of the two has been detained.”
Tonight at 18.45 CET, Dortmund and Monaco will kick-off the re-arranged first leg of their quarter-final. Europe will be watching, with a mixture of dread and maybe relief that the game will go ahead.
But given the circumstances one can only wonder what Dortmund’s mindset will be for such a crunch game.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1713423031labto1713423031ofdlr1713423031owedi1713423031sni@i1713423031tnuk.1713423031ardni1713423031mas1713423031