Despite all the routine that Bundesliga operations have developed over the decades, they still exist, these great moments of pure football happiness.

In the hour after the 85th minute of the game between VfL Bochum and Borussia Dortmund, the visitors' block in the north of the Westfalenstadion became a place where people fought enthusiastically for their composure.

Your club had won a crazy game 4:3 and thus created "the icing on the cake" for an enchantingly beautiful season, as coach Thomas Reis later said.

Now the players kept running towards their supporters, yelled, sang, let their fists circle.

Intoxicated by the mixture of joy at what is already a huge football game in itself and the even greater happiness of having made it through the class.

"I have no words for it, it's unbelievable," said goalkeeper Manuel Riemann.

They were 2-0 up, 2-3 down and finally celebrating a 4-3 win.

For the first time in this millennium they won in the stadium of the giant from the neighboring city.

Milos Pantovic, who scored the winning goal five minutes from time, wasn't even sure if the party would end in time for next Tuesday's training session.

"I have no idea if we can do it," said the midfielder, while Reis proudly announced: "What has been created here in the last two years is a dream."

The really big stories were told elsewhere.

For example, there was the long-term crisis drama at BVB, to which a new chapter was added on that day with the now well-known flood of errors and fans whistling angrily once again.

The FC Bayern championship, which was accompanied by many concerns and doubts, also made headlines, the drama of the decline of the big city club from Berlin, and perhaps even the high-altitude flights of SC Freiburg and 1. FC Köln move more people than VfL Bochum.

But when it comes to emotional swings in all directions, it's hard to top VfL.

"After the last two games, which didn't go so well, it's all the nicer to come back like this," said Gerrit Holtmann. "That's the character of our squad.

We made history again today.

We made history against Bayern, and again today.”

The resounding 7-0 defeat at FC Bayern on the fifth day of the game is repeatedly cited as a key moment on the way to this successful year, as a result of which the coaches and their players realized that they had to defend together and with maximum intensity in order to keep up in the Bundesliga to be able to

The team stabilized and beat Munich in the second leg in a sensational game 4:2.

"Castrop Street Football"

"We learned a great deal from the things that happened to us," said Bochum sports director Sebastian Schindzielorz.

“We never really fell behind.

That is an absolutely impressive performance.” In addition, the old-fashioned Bochum stadium worked excellently even under pandemic conditions with a significantly reduced number of spectators.

“No pinstripes, no white ballet, no fuss – Castrop street football!” is the claim of a clever image campaign.

But there were also dark moments at VfL.

Beer mugs were repeatedly thrown in the direction of the field, the duel against Borussia Mönchengladbach even had to be stopped after an assistant referee was hit.

And Max Kruse, who was still playing for Union Berlin in the first half of the season, said after a game at VfL that he had “seldom seen such antisocial fans as here”.

However, Schindzielorz explicitly included the supporters in his enthusiasm after the goal for the season was reached: "It was a fantastic performance by everyone, starting with the spectators.

All employees have repeatedly fought against the resistance, like VfL.”

However, the most astonishing progress has been made by the team.

In contrast to co-promoted Greuther Fürth, VfL has developed a style of play that is suitable for the Bundesliga.

Not with impressive mileage, but with lots of long balls and an enormous frustration tolerance.

When key player Simon Zoller tore his cruciate ligament and was out for months, Holtmann, Antwi-Adjei, Asano or Polter stormed.

Goalkeeper Reimann, who only arrived in the Bundesliga at the age of 33 and was one of the best there, has developed just as well as captain Losilla or full-backs Gamboa and Soares.

They also have a strong team that can deal with conflicts.

"We managed the miracle on our own, I'm really proud," said Reis, who and his team are now facing the second season, which is often even more difficult for promoted teams.

But nobody wanted to look that far ahead on Saturday.

At least until Tuesday should be celebrated carefree.