Revierderby Madness: A “Wembley Goal”, Celebrating in Front of Opposition Fans, and a Possible Backwards Headbutt

Plenty of drama in the Revierderby this weekend, where FC Schalke 04 won 1-0 at BVB Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion.

First there was the “did it cross the line?” moment when BVB’s Lucas Barrios long range strike hit the underside of the bar and bounced down either inside or outside of the goal. The YouTuber who posted the above vid called it a “Wembley Goal”, which I’m assuming is a reference to the infamous Geoff Hurst goal from the 1966 World Cup Final.

But there was more controversy to come…

First there was Jefferson Farfan’s goal for Schalke, which turned out to be the matchwinner. Or more importantly, his celebration. Have a look at this fan-taken footage, recorded from the Schalke end:

Farfan and the other Schalke players do seem to spend a little too long celebrating in front of the BVB fans.

Schalke boss Felix Magath defended his players for doing a mini-Adebayor:

“The goal happened at that end of the field so where else should they celebrate?” he asked.

“I don’t think they were being provocative. They could have run all the way to the other end of the field, but then they get into trouble with the referee.”

Fair enough. But then things got a little more “provocative” after the whistle. No video unfortunately, but apparently the Schalke players celebrated the win in front of BVB fans (harsh!) Magath has promised to have a word:

“After a goal, it is fine, but after the game, to celebrate in front of the opponents’ fans is not right,” he said. “We will have to talk about that.”

Last but definitely not least, the most enthusiastic celebrator appeared to be Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer, who may or may not have attacked BVB’s Kevin Grosskreutz during the post-match celebration with a backwards headbutt then elbow to the face combo.

Neuer denies it, like so:

“That must have been some other Manuel Neuer”.

Not a great defence. Especially with Grosskreutz calling the keeper a liar, and Bild having possibly found some photographic evidence of Neuer’s backwards butt:

Though to be fair, any photo with a red circle on it does tend to look immediately incriminating.

Aside from everything else, this seemed like a pretty decent game of football. So here are 18 minutes of match highlights:

And if that’s whet your appetite then circle, February 27th 2010 in your diary, as that’s when BVB will visit Schalke looking for revenge.

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Category: Bundesliga