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The new season starts with Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach. But the Bundesliga opening ceremony is met with rejection by the fans.
Mönchengladbach – The new Bundesliga season is underway. The first game on Friday evening will see Borussia Mönchengladbach face off against German champions Bayer Leverkusen. While fans, experts and those involved were extremely excited about this treat, there was great anger about the Bundesliga opening ceremony at Borussia Park.
Surprising Bundesliga opening show before kick-off between Gladbach and Leverkusen
Shortly before kick-off, spectators in the stadium and in front of the television sets were amazed when an animated football match suddenly appeared on the stadium screens and on the screens at home. Virtual men, who could also be mistaken for chess pieces, competed against each other and even scored a goal.
Immediately afterwards, the crests of the two clubs, Gladbach and Leverkusen, as well as the German championship trophy, popped up in oversized size. The whole spectacle lasted less than two minutes and was accompanied by a chorus of whistles and shouts of “Shit DFB”. But that wasn’t enough, the expressions of displeasure about the opening show continued online.
The Bundesliga season opens with the match between Gladbach and champions Leverkusen. © Kirchner-Media/TH/Imago
Spectators disappointed by Bundesliga opening ceremony: “Animated rubbish”
“Virtual launch event? What kind of crap is that?” and “What kind of animated crap is that?” were the comments on X. Numerous fans complained about the animated presentation.
“Boy, that’s a shitty season opener. Things can always get worse, it seems…” said one user. Before that, there were many positive comments in which fans expressed their anticipation of the new season. However, the initial euphoria was dampened by some observers even before the action on the pitch. “No more desire for the Bundesliga,” one commented, for example.
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Spectators rage over Bundesliga opening ceremony – opera singer sings national anthem
But it wasn’t just the DFL’s virtual opening show that drove viewers mad; the German national anthem a few minutes later didn’t go down well either. The Canadian-German opera and musical singer Anna Maria Kaufmann had the great honor of singing the anthem. The 59-year-old wore a glittering silver evening dress.
The opera singer Anna Maria Kaufmann sings the German national anthem before the Bundesliga kick-off. © Anke Waelischmiller/Sven Simon/Imago
The mockery was not long in coming. “First realization of the new Bundesliga season: football fans rarely go to the opera, when I read the comments on Twitter,” one user realized. Another made an unconventional suggestion: “National anthem? Better not, or let a brass band play. At least they can do it.”
Bundesliga season opener starts with a bang
In terms of sport, the match lived up to high expectations. In the 12th minute, ex-Gladbach player Granit Xhaka scored a dream goal from around 20 meters to give Leverkusen an early lead and send the away fans into ecstasy. Before the start of the season, a supercomputer had calculated the new German champions. (ck)
