It’s the 11th April 2012 and we’re into the 84th, and change, minute of what has already been touted as a game-changing Der Klassiker between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. The Signal Iduna Park is packed to the rafters and almost every single voice coming out of the 80,000 plus human beings are jeering at the field. Boos, abuses in various languages ranging from German to English and a few other choice words are all being thrown at the field and the atmosphere is tense.

It’s why the 80,000 plus at the Signal Iduna Park are shouting, screaming, abusing, booing and yelling their hearts out at the man who has already caused them quite a few problems in this game. They’re also cheering and giving Roman Weidenfeller a boost, not that he needs it, as the referee walks away and gestures towards the Dortmund players near the advertising boards, who watch on in anticipation.

They lost five games all season, one home and four away, winning 23 of their Bundesliga games as they out-did both Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich to the title. The Bavarians finished ten points behind their Der Klassiker rivals in the end, a fact that cost Louis van Gaal his job, but that’s a story for a little later. For now, Dortmund walked into the season as the overwhelming favourites and despite a slight brain fart at the start of the season, Klopp’s men were in the right place.

They sat in first place, ahead of the Der Klassiker, with three points separating them and Bayern Munich. Revierderby rivals Schalke 04 were nine points behind Dortmund and six behind Bayern but still in with a shout. Hopeful fans of Borussia Monchengladbach also believed they were in with an outside shout although with sixteen points separating them and first place, they would need a miracle even with five games left.

His first saw him manage five games in the space of just under 65 days and a lot was expected this time around. Not just because he was backed in the transfer market with moves for Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng and Rafinha but because of the team he had at his disposal. Because despite a mediocre season under Van Gaal, this was still a Bayern team packed with Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Mario Gomez, Bastian Schweinsteiger and company.

Somehow Heynckes brought them under his spell as the Bavarians entered 2012 as the Herbstmeisterschaft with three points separating them and Dortmund. But two draws and two losses in their first seven games in the new year and suddenly the tide had turned in Klopp and Dortmund’s favour. And the Signal Iduna Park side needed it because they lost key men in the summer of 2011 with Nuri Sahin leaving for Real Madrid, Tamas Hajnal leaving for Stuttgart and Dede leaving on a free.

That forced Klopp to sign reinforcements but all he got was Ilkay Gundogan and Ivan Perisic although both men would turn out just fine. The German boss was also helped by the fact that Robert Lewandowski found his footing alongside Shinji Kagawa, with the duo thriving in more prominent roles. That kept BVB in the race, especially after a 4-4 draw against Stuttgart broke many a heart although by that point of the season, 28 games in, Dortmund were on a 22 game unbeaten run.

Stuttgart failed to stop them, Wolfsburg couldn’t manage it either, which left it all for Bayern and Jupp Heynckes, who had to face a team filled with confidence and it showed. That is despite them not having Mario Gotze, who scored the only goal in the reverse fixture, but it didn’t seem to matter. Bayern did indeed dominate the ball, possession and even the passing stats but all that had Franz Beckenbauer irritated and pissed off with his former side because they struggled to break down Dortmund.

The Japanese playmaker should have passed to a screaming Lewandowski but his eyes lit up and it was the shot Kagawa took. Bayern’s best chance, though, after Gomez’s header, came from Toni Kroos as he thundered a shot past the Dortmund goal and not even the German midfielder seemed at his best. But the best chance of the half, possibly the one that should have been scored, fell for Lewandowski.

Blaszczykowski caressed a cross into the mixer from out wide, the Pole rose the highest and rattled Bayern’s left-post with a towering header just before half-time. It had Jupp Heynckes and his team on the edge because they were truly struggling to get into the game. Things changed after that as Dortmund eased off the pedal and Bastian Schweinsteiger’s arrival in the second half titled the weighing scale towards Bayern.

It came against the run of play as the hosts won a corner and caught Bayern out as David Alaba flew to intercept a cross with a diving header. The corner was played short to Marcel Schmelzer, who dinked a first time cross into the mixer for someone to do something with. But it was half-cleared away and landed on the edge of the box for Großkreutz, who had a first time hit at the ball and it was a nothing hit.

The ball flew down the channel, through the middle and should have nestled into Neuer’s hands but Lewandowski had other ideas.  Instead, the Pole, standing right in front of the German, pulled off an audacious back-heel to guide it into the net instead despite screams for offside. Replays showed that the Dortmund man was in the clear and out of nowhere the hosts had a, well deserved, lead which stunned Bayern.

Boos erupted around the Signal Iduna Park, Weidenfeller shook his finger saying no penalty but the referee paid no attention and pointed to the spot. Robben picked up the ball and placed it down at the little dot that now seemed huge as the boos and chants continued. The combined might of 80,000 plus at the Signal Iduna Park rained down upon the Dutch winger and the referee as he marshalled the players about.

He takes his own cool time, allows Robben the time to settle in and have a staring match with either the ball or Weidenfeller, whichever he picked, as the voices continued. There seemed to be no let up as the man in black gestured towards the Dortmund players near the advertising board before finally taking his place. Only then, after what seems like a decade but has been under five seconds, he turns towards Robben and blows his whistle.