And despite the love-in for Madrid there is a match to be played out tonight and an authentic football base to be sated… so let’s give out a Ruhr Champions roar.
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid is truly a clash of styles and cultures.
Dortmund, the fans-owned people’s club from the German industrial heartland with the Yellow Wall at their back.
And in the white corner, Real, the King’s and State’s club with the tapas and rioja guzzlers in the corporate boxes backing them.
Of course, I’ve known about Real, just like you, as long as I’ve known about football.
On my account because Los Blancos had won the last of their five-in-a-row European Cups in 1960.
In front of a 137,000 crowd at Hampden, Glasgow, which included Alex Ferguson… and my Dear Old Dad.
Pin it on Dortmund
Of course when the Spaniards came to Glasgow to play the clubs here it was always a big deal.
But it was a night in the early 90s where I formed an interest in their opponents tonight, Borussia Dortmund.
When a German reporter on the local Dortmund paper entered the press box.
And started handing out club pins for the Scots, myself included, reporting on that night’s game with Celtic.
It wasn’t just the start of a friendship between both press packs but also between both clubs despite Celtic overturning the Cologne first leg lead that night.
Legendary players transferred between the clubs, Murdo Macleod to the Ruhr Valley.
And Paul Lambert, fresh from winning the European Cup with Dortmund, to Parkhead.
Wrong step for ex-players
Tonight Dortmund will try and repeat that feat and it would be just as big an upset as it was back in 1997 when they defeated another European behemoth Juventus, of Italy.
Now every club holds their legends dear, and are suspicious of those, who hotfoot it for bigger riches and especially to rivals Bayern Munich.
Which is how it was when Dortmund star Robert Lewandowski returned from Munich to play his old team.
And was told that he had to walk down the unlucky steps into the ground as he was now ‘one of them.’
Kloppelganger
One who is undoubtedly ‘one of us’, or a Dortmunder, is Jurgen Klopp, who is held in high regard for his time there.
So much so that they even have a doppelganger taking the tours around the stadium.
In best Ruhr tradition food and drink complement the football fun of visiting the changing rooms and the home dugout.
And you will be able to drink the local beer, sausages and meaty fun pitchside.
And hear how Kloppie’s wife would bake cakes for the team until his successor Killjoy Thomas Tuchel put a stop to it.
Here we go Dortmund
Stand too in the Yellow Wall which will certainly prompt a visit for a match which is considerably cheaper than at Real, or in English football.
Football fans around Europe who haven’t enjoyed the delights of Dortmund before will invariably do so this month at Euro 2024.
And if they have the stomach visit the German Football Museum.
And marvel at the stories behind their four World Cup triumphs and three Euro titles (to date).
Of course they’ll have a say in this year’s tournament (despite Scotland’s imminent victory in the opener) and if they do win it you’ll hear the Ruhr Champions Roar.
