Jordan Campbell shares the abuse Dortmund’s players received from fans after Rangers thrashing
Borussia Dortmund fans turned “venomous” in a way rarely seen after their team capitulated to Rangers, according to The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell.
The Light Blues subjected the Bundesliga side to an attacking onslaught they were not prepared for to leave with a 4-2 victory ahead of the crucial second leg next week.
With the Germans considered the tournament favourites but having suffered some other recent poor results, including a 5-2 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, the defeat lead some fans to turn on the players.
Campbell writes in The Athletic: “Mats Hummels, a 2014 World Cup winner who had been bullied by Alfredo Morelos throughout, walked over to the dugout and had a full water bottle thrown at him.
“He eyeballed a fan before deciding not to retaliate but when the whole team lined up in front of the famous Yellow Wall, the biggest single-tiered stand in Europe famed for its intimidating noise, all they received was a wall of abuse.
“Some were kicking chairs, others were gesturing for them to leave and dozens more bottles were being thrown onto the pitch.
“A local journalist said it is rare for a Dortmund crowd to turn so venomously on their team but, this seemed like a point of no return for some.”
Shell-shocked
The hosts likely did not expect their underdog opponents to come at them so strongly in an away European knockout tie.
But Giovanni van Bronckhorst saw that game plan as the best chance to play to his side’s strengths and exploit the weaknesses of BVB.
Gers’ attacking stars have been in superb form of late, while injury and lack of form have left questions at the back.
The January wobble that turned into a mini-crisis at Parkhead at the start of February saw the Ibrox men win one of four league games while conceding seven times.
Since the Celtic defeat though form has sky-rocketed, with four straight wins in all competitions and the two goals conceded last night the first ones in that run.
But the side from the Westfalenstadion are in the midst of an even worse run than Rangers went through.
They have only kept one clean sheet since December and after last night have conceded 13 times in their last five, a run which saw them knocked out of the cup to lower-league opposition St. Pauli.
Perhaps the result should be less of a surprise, but either way the home fans were furious, not that abusing the players and throwing bottles would help at all.
In other Rangers news, Alan Brazil was trying to downplay the Gers success on talkSPORT the morning after.