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During a match-up between two strong Bundesliga teams, two fans had to be resuscitated. One fan passed away, while the other is in the hospital but in good condition. This tragedy puts Dortmund's impressive 2-0 win in the backseat, as the fans of both teams remained silent in the second half, until they beautifully sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" at the end of the game.
The agreed silence between both sets of fans highlights the family culture amongst supporters and clubs. Dortmund took the lead through a beautiful run and pass by Castro to Reus in the 30th minute, before the unfortunate events occurred. However, once the news of the tragedy broke, the game quickly became much less important. Dortmund searched for a second goal, and many chances were missed, but the game just felt inconsequential considering what had occurred in the stadium. Suspending or abandoning the game could have been justified, but the game proceeded nonetheless.
On the football side of things, there were some encouraging signs for Dortmund if Ilkay Gundogan ends up leaving. Gonzalo Castro had another strong game, and made a fantastic Gundogan-esque run to set up the opener for Marco Reus. That was the only big chance for Dortmund in the first half, and they took it well.
In the second half, Dortmund came out and dominated Mainz. If it weren't for a slew of missed chances from Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, and Reus, Dortmund could have won this one 5-0. Aubameyang blew a string of three chances literally in a span of two minutes, and continued to miss two or three more throughout the match. However, he did well to set up Kagawa for the second goal, which was mutely celebrated by the BVB players, indicating they were aware of the tragedy that occurred.
Most fans weren't too concerned about the result of the match, with all things considered, so it's hard to get too excited about the win, and hard to analyze the game afterwards. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to remind us that there are things bigger than the game, and the Yellow Wall once again showed their class in the light of a tragedy.