Bayern: Bundesliga Champions In The Other Game

If pressed, I’d have to say my favorite thing about football is The Other Game: when two games are being played simultaneously, the result of each impacting the other. And when this is the case, more often than not at some completely mundane point in a game one of the crowds will simply erupt. An overhit corner, a simple two yard pass and boom, the stadium goes haywire for no visual reason. But we know – it’s The Other Game. It’s an extraordinary phenomenon in which thousands upon thousands of people will unify into cheering something they cannot see.

(And I will happily admit I get fooled by this about 75% of the time. “Wait….what happened?!”)

The day opened as this:

Bayern 64 +37 (home v Bochum)
Schalke 64 +24 (home v Werder)

With a Bayern win and a Schalke loss, the Bundesliga season would be effectively, though not officially, over. For Schalke to hope for a Bayern loss while making up such a staggering goal difference would not be in any way feasible.

In the 56th minute, Allianz Arena erupted out of nowhere, in unison. It hadn’t been posted on the scoreboard – that was to come later in a smaller roar; most had simply ‘heard’ via general telecommunications. Mesut Ozil had scored: Werder 1 – Schalke 0. (A lovely little goal.) And as I’m typing this, incredibly, at this surreally coincidental moment, in the 64th minute the Allianz Arena has erupted again. No need to check: Werder 2 – Schalke 0. And with that, Bayern are effectively Bundesliga champions.

It’s one of the things we may take for granted, but it’s arguably one of the coolest – yes, coolest – parts of the sport. When the schedule aligns, the fates align and the story doesn’t come from the pitch, but the stands. A very rare and very special occasion.

A very small snippet here:

Celebrations are continuing at the Bayern Offside.

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Category: Bundesliga, World Football