A trip to Dortmund...

Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Hannover
Bundesliga
Saturday 26th January 2019

Borussia Dortmund are undoubtedly amongst the biggest clubs in Europe, but obtaining tickets to see them 'live' on their own patch is what can be diplomatically described as a major challenge.

Despite playing at the largest stadium in Germany, their games are almost always sell-outs and any tickets which do make it to general sale usually get snapped up within a few minutes. Several potential visits to the Westfalenstadion (or Signal Iduna Park to give it's sponsored name) in previous seasons had fallen by the wayside due to the practicalities involved.

Nevertheless, with relegation-threatened Hannover in town not long after the mid-season break, the task was somewhat easier even though BVB were flying high at the top of the Bundesliga.

As is usually the case whenever I plan trips to Germany, it's always my intention to try and see more than one game in a weekend; especially in the Rhine-Westphalia region where there are a plethora of decent-sized clubs all in close proximity to one another.

Anyone who has ever been to Dortmund will probably testify that there isn't really much to do in the city; it's basically just renowned thanks to the football team. Therefore, with this in mind (and with Fortuna Dusseldorf versus Red Bull Leipzig being my choice for a game on the Sunday), I opted to stay in Koln which is around an hour or so away from Dortmund.

Getting to Dortmund on the day was simple and straightforward. One cheap and easy option to reach the city was by rail with frequent 'express' and 'stop at all stations' services running at varying prices, though even cheaper was a Flixbus (a popular method of transport in Germany) which operates from Koln/Bonn Airport.

Once in Dortmund, there are several local train and tram services that run to the stadium and the price of travel within the city boundaries are included within the cost of your match ticket. This is a common thing nearly everywhere in Germany and just one of the many reasons why, in my opinion, attending a Bundesliga match is a far more enjoyable than taking in a top tier fixture in the United Kingdom.

When abroad, it's always advisable to get inside stadiums as early as possible and not leave it until close to kick-off - otherwise you might miss a good portion of the game. The reason for this is because, firstly, you'll have to go through security points which involve being patted down and searched by stewards. This is a time-consuming, usually disorderly process, and once that's over and done with you'll then reach the turnstiles. As a general rule, the greater the numbers of people around then the longer the queues will inevitably be - and for some reason they never seem to move quickly!

Therefore, having arrived at the stadium early enough and with it being wet, windy and pretty miserable weather, I wasted little time in going 'indoors' once the turnstiles opened two hours before kick-off.

I'd been to the Westfalenstadion, a few years previously, on a tour so I had an idea of what to expect and in terms of size, it's absolutely huge! It's difficult not to be taken aback somewhat by the size and 'grandeur' that's all around you - yet despite this, the stadium isn't particularly easy on the eye with four very visually different stands and terrace sections; yes, you can stand up and watch a game without breaking any laws in Germany. You can even have a beer in view of the pitch too and smoke freely without being stared at by any jobsworth stewards!

Of course, there is the infamous 'Yellow Wall' which is renowned in football circles and the largest single-tiered stand on the continent, whilst a pre-match rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' adds a sense of prestige to this particular trip.

It was a game that BVB were very much expected to win as they were in top spot and Hannover were languishing in the drop zone. Anything less than three points would have been deemed a disappointing result and Hannover's tactics - to try and 'attack' their counterparts, play a high line and dictate things, whilst quite admirable, just played completely into the hosts' hands.

To say they got ripped apart would be something of an understatement!

Achraf Hakimi fired the Yellows ahead close to the half-hour mark though the floodgates really opened after the interval when Marco Reus and Mario Gotze struck in quick succession to create an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

Hannover really should have just 'shut up shop' and taken a cautious approach; being too adventurous and wanting to attack subsequently meant they were just far too easy to open up, far too often, and Raphael Guerreiro netted a fourth goal with a quarter of the game still to play.

The visitors' endeavour was eventually rewarded with a consolation effort through Marvin Bakalorz on 86 minutes; a goal which was celebrated euphorically by a bloke sat near me who was dressed in Hannover colours (again, something you wouldn't get in England considering he was an away fan in the home end), but Axel Witsel bagged in injury-time to secure a 5-1 win for Dortmund.

Somehow or another, despite the Yellows moving nine points clear at the top of the table after this particular victory - they blew their lead over the remainder of the campaign with arch-rivals Bayern Munich ultimately coming up trumps and claiming silverware yet again.

If anyone is reading this and fancies a trip to Dortmund, my advice in regards to getting tickets would be to avoid clashes with the 'bigger' clubs and instead focus on opponents such as Augsburg, Freiburg or Hoffenheim - none of whom could be considered crowd pullers. Depending on when during the season you want to go, tickets are likely to be easier against these opponents (and they certainly aren't forced to sell-out their allocation of tickets in the away end either).

Furthermore, avoid 'scam' websites such as Viagogo, StubHub, TicketGum, etc, as you'll just pay well over face-value and purchase directly from the club - remarkably, in the days leading up to a game, some tickets will always become available as Dortmund offer an official ticket resale on their own website for those regular attendees who can't make it to the odd game.