It was probably the day Mario Götze dreaded once the 2013/14 fixture list for the Bundesliga came out, what he predicted to be "one of the most difficult moments" of his young and exciting career.
The Dortmund fans, loud and proud, did not hold back their distaste in what Mario Götze had done to them. They held up signs that read "Götze is an S.O.B.", "Judas Götze", and most notably "BVB or FCB. Echte Liebe or Mia San Mia. For you it was long clear. F*** you Götze." [Die Welt]
After allowing the tunnel behind the benches to shield him from his former supporters, Götze entered the game for Mario Mandžukić, with his gaffer Pep Guardiola shouting instructions to him while he took off his jacket.
Showers of boos and whistles rained down upon him, the crowd still aggrieved seeing its proud youth team product in red instead of yellow.
Guardiola's game-plan was to get him touches, right when he sprinted onto the pitch.
"I told him before his substitution that he should have a lot of touches as it goes," said Guardiola. "I know that he is good with the ball. He was crucial when he came in." [Bild | Sport]
Götze made the right touch at the right time.
Thomas Müller found Götze at the top of the box, loads of space in front of him to unleash his shot. The ball slotted it inside the far post past the dive of Roman Weidenfeller, a mere symbol of what FC Bayern paid €37 million for and what Dortmund reluctantly relinquished.
"It was a story that was classic for Football. That is unbelievable, super for us," said Thomas Müller postmatch. [Bild | Sport]
Götze stood there stoic and contrite, raising his hands as if he wanted no part of the goal he just scored. He allowed his teammates to pile around him, but he declined elate with them.
Many in the stands stood stunned as Götze demolishes the yellow wall with one clean right-footed blow. All Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp could do was shake his head.
"That's a story that only football can write," Klopp admitted. "He's just a great player. I only thought: 'Why didn't he score those goals for Borussia Dortmund?'" [ESPN FC]
Could the game have happened any other way? How many players, supporters, journalists were going into the game dreaming of Mario Götze scoring against his former team just five months after his unveiling in Munich?
It was the worst possible scenario Dortmund, the German starlet that they still feel possessive over opening the scoreline for their biggest rival. Perhaps part of Guardiola's guile was to bring Götze on later in the match, just so his €37 million acquisition could poke the biggest hole in the Dortmund balloon.
The fact that Dortmund dropped seven points behind the defending champions hurts, but that pain is a prick considering the matter at which they lost the Klassiker.
Götze has thus far decided to keep his thoughts to himself, both sides filling the reporters notebooks rather than he. He is just 21-years-old, and it might have been the best and the worst day of his life.
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