I hand-to-God have no idea where Leverkusen is…

1-0 against Leverkusen. A team we had never before beaten, against which you’d think our luck would finally run out. Well, haven’t we been the same ones complaining about how unlucky we’ve been to have not beaten Bayern, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, etc.? Ah, the hypocrisy of success. People might say we’re outperforming and will eventually revert to the mean, but stay above average long enough, and that average will slowly start to rise. That’s math! And speaking of math, 16 points separate us from relegation with 18 matches left. As Oliver Ruhnert said, we’ve got to wait until it’s mathematically impossible until we think of anything else.

The game itself felt like a siege; Bayer kept running at our defense, that, inexplicably, only seemed to grow stronger with time. I was bracing myself for the last-minute lucky punch we’re so used to, but instead found myself, like everyone else, screaming as Teuchert finally made good. All the nerves, the pressure, was suddenly released. All I could think of for the rest of the game is how proud we can be of this team’s next-man-up mentality. Gib niemals auf….

We’re putting together a truly amazing season. Our defense this game felt so unbreakable that even I began to feel like every Bayer attack was doomed. It’s almost like the first league game against Bayer last season, only the roles are reversed. In fact, our three games against the Pill People are a great barometer of how far we’ve come: from getting absolutely shutdown, to a spirited fight narrowly lost, to a solid victory. And for those who would say it isn’t earned: who hit the post 4 times? And who didn’t once?

By the way, that last home game against Bayer is proof of a great sports theorem: in the long run, luck will eventually break even on both sides. We lost at the buzzer last time, and won practically at the final whistle this time. The only way to get lucky is to create chances, and for ages, Union has always created chances.

Of course, the chance that matters most is to put an end to this miserable virus. I can scarcely think of a more bittersweet feeling than having to watch our team from afar, and I know every Unioner feels this way. If we were there in full force, it would have been 3-0. It’s another thing that reminds me of last year, with the Leverkusen pyro show. Of course, pyro is often a great fan expression, but was more than a little ironic coming from a corporate team. Would that we had the chance to be there in person this time to provide our repartee…

I don’t want to really get into the regrettable post-match incident, as too much ink has already been spilled without accomplishing anything. Racism is unacceptable, not least because Unioner come from all possible backgrounds. I hope that, once the dust settles, everyone does the only sensible thing to do in this situation: understand what actually happened, accept consequences and seek forgiveness where wrong was done, and move forward with greater empathy for one another. We’ve all got issues to work through and whatever hot take BZ is going to come out with in order to sell copy probably won’t help.