How Erling Haaland will be remembered at Borussia Dortmund

Unlike their opponents Hertha BSC, who were fighting for survival in the Bundesliga, yesterday was a typical carefree end-of-season-fixture for Borussia Dortmund: A nice pre-summer kickabout with nothing to play for, perfect weather conditions and their brand new kits on display.

For BVB, the game, a 2-1 win of the ordinary kind, was meaningless after a frustrating first campaign under manager Marco Rose that still resulted in a second place. This day was all about emotional farewells anyway.

Some legends said goodbye: Michael Zorc, who spent 44 years at the club as both an iconic player and sports director, as well as Marcel Schmelzer, who is ending his career after 17 years as a loyal servant to the black and yellow. Both were honoured with gigantic banners, chants and shared many tears with the 80,500 supporters.

In contrast to his performances during the last two and a half seasons, Erling Haaland was bid farewell in a comparatively unspectacular fashion, just days after his move to Manchester City had been confirmed.

After Roman Burki, Marwin Hitz, Axel Witsel and Dan-Axel Zagadou, who are also leaving, the club thanked the 21-year-old for his contributions and wished him all the best moments before kick-off.

86 goals in 89 matches, truly remarkable pic.twitter.com/5hofrKlzrN

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) May 14, 2022

Untypical for the colossal striker, he appeared almost shy as it was his turn to approach the Yellow Wall, where he was greeted with cheers. He patted his chest over his heart and, for one last time, joined the fans with a collective wave.

A few hours previously some of them told The Athletic how they would remember him.

Even though not many players were able to put their stamp on club and league as fast and vigorously as Haaland did since joining from RB Salzburg in January 2020, his name wasn’t mentioned much during the pre-game chatter around the Signal Iduna Park. Zorc, Schmelzer as well as potential new arrivals were the dominant topics among the Dortmund faithful on this Saturday afternoon.

It seemed as if they had already digested Haaland’s departure. “It was just a matter of time from the beginning,” one supporter in a Haaland shirt told The Athletic in the beer garden just beside the stadium.

A sentence that was echoed many times by others around the ground.

After all, it was clear from the moment Haaland signed that Dortmund was going to be a springboard to the pinnacle of world football for him. In fact, hadn’t the club bent their own principals by agreeing to a (rather player-friendly) release clause — something they vowed to avoid after helplessly watching Mario Gotze join Bayern in 2013 — he would have never worn the BVB shirt, as CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke recently confirmed.

It has been nothing but an honour to wear this shirt. At @BVB, I've spent memorable moments, met special people, not to mention a fanbase that has been always our extra man on the pitch. The Yellow Wall is truly incredible. I'll never forget any of this! Thank you all!