DFB.de takes a look back at prominent figures in the Bundesliga ahead of a particular fixture coming up at the weekend. Today: Leonardo de Deus Santos, known as Dede, who won the title with Borussia Dortmund in 2002 on the final day against Bremen. The two sides will meet again on Saturday (15:30 CEST) as they battle for a place in the Europa League.
DFB.de: Dede, Borussia Dortmund will take on Werder Bremen on Saturday in the final game of the season, just as they did 13 years ago. Back then, you won the title with BVB after a 2-1 win. What memories do you have of that day?
Dede: It was the best day of my career, the absolute highlight. I came to Dortmund in 1998 and BVB had won the title in 1995 and 1996 and then the Champions League in 1997. The team was going through a time of change when I arrived and it was clear that it wouldn’t take long for us to be challenging for the title again. We had a great team in the 2001/2002 season: Jens Lehmann in goal, experienced defenders such as Stefan Reuter and Jürgen Kohler, a young talent in Christoph Metzelder, an excellent midfield with Sebastian Kehl, Micky Stevic and an exceptional Tomas Rosicky. We had a lot of potential up front too: Marcio Amoroso was a classic goal scorer, Jan Koller was a special player due to his height and Ewerthon was incredibly quick.
DFB.de: Ewerthon fired BVB to the title with his goal in the 2-1 win and you provided the assist.
Dede: Yes Ewerthon had only been on for about a minute. The stadium exploded when he scored. The joy was even greater because it can’t get even more dramatic than a season finale. We were five points adrift with three games to go and it looked as if Bayer Leverkusen were going to romp to the title. Bayer 04 had a strong team at the time – they were in the Champions League final and the DFB Cup. I remember journalists asking me whether I had congratulated Leverkusen on winning the title. I replied “No why? Anything can happen in football.”
DFB.de: Proof of that was to follow. Leverkusen lost on matchday 32 2-1 at home to Bremen and a week later to 1. FC Nürnberg. BVB then sat top of the table on the penultimate matchday after a 4-3 win against Hamburger SV.
Dede: The game was a classic. Ingo Hertzsch from HSV and Christian Wörns were both sent off in the first half – it was a very frantic game. Our manager Matthias Sammer was also sent to the stands. It was also one of Amoroso’s best games for us: He scored two goals and set up another for Rosicky. We therefore went into our final game with a lot of confidence. Even though we went behind against Bremen after 17 minutes, we didn’t get nervous and always believed in ourselves. Koller made it 1-1 just before half time and the rest is history. We celebrated the title the day after at Borsigplatz and hundreds of thousands of people were there. I’ll never forget all of the happy faces.
DFB.de: Are you still in contact with your teammates from back then?
Dede: Unfortunately not really as the team split up in the years after: Lehmann and Rosicky signed for Arsenal, Ewerthon went to Spain and Reuter and Kohler ended their careers. BVB went into a financial crisis and a lot changed. But I hope that I will see a lot of them again soon at my testimonial in Dortmund on 5th September.
DFB.de: You were the chief of the four Brazilians at BVB back then.
Dede: More like foreign secretary. I was there for the longest amount of time and I know Dortmund the best. Therefore I looked after my fellow countrymen. I helped them with transfers and bureaucratic mumbo jumbo. Sometimes I would get calls in the evening when their TV’s weren’t working. I also had to do a lot of translating. That wasn’t always easy, for example when Matthias Sammer came to me and said that I had to explain to Amoroso or Ewerthon why they weren’t playing. But we had a great time: We often played against Leverkusen’s Brazilian players Zé Roberto and Lucio. They are all great memories and you could write a book on it.
Leonardo de Deus Santos, known as Dede, played for BVB between 1998 and 2011, making 322 Bundesliga appearances and scoring twelve goals. No other foreign player has played more games for BVB than the popular Brazilian.
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DFB.de takes a look back at prominent figures in the Bundesliga ahead of a particular fixture coming up at the weekend. Today: Leonardo de Deus Santos, known as Dede, who won the title with Borussia Dortmund in 2002 on the final day against Bremen. The two sides will meet again on Saturday (15:30 CEST) as they battle for a place in the Europa League.
DFB.de: Dede, Borussia Dortmund will take on Werder Bremen on Saturday in the final game of the season, just as they did 13 years ago. Back then, you won the title with BVB after a 2-1 win. What memories do you have of that day?
Dede: It was the best day of my career, the absolute highlight. I came to Dortmund in 1998 and BVB had won the title in 1995 and 1996 and then the Champions League in 1997. The team was going through a time of change when I arrived and it was clear that it wouldn’t take long for us to be challenging for the title again. We had a great team in the 2001/2002 season: Jens Lehmann in goal, experienced defenders such as Stefan Reuter and Jürgen Kohler, a young talent in Christoph Metzelder, an excellent midfield with Sebastian Kehl, Micky Stevic and an exceptional Tomas Rosicky. We had a lot of potential up front too: Marcio Amoroso was a classic goal scorer, Jan Koller was a special player due to his height and Ewerthon was incredibly quick.
DFB.de: Ewerthon fired BVB to the title with his goal in the 2-1 win and you provided the assist.
Dede: Yes Ewerthon had only been on for about a minute. The stadium exploded when he scored. The joy was even greater because it can’t get even more dramatic than a season finale. We were five points adrift with three games to go and it looked as if Bayer Leverkusen were going to romp to the title. Bayer 04 had a strong team at the time – they were in the Champions League final and the DFB Cup. I remember journalists asking me whether I had congratulated Leverkusen on winning the title. I replied “No why? Anything can happen in football.”
DFB.de: Proof of that was to follow. Leverkusen lost on matchday 32 2-1 at home to Bremen and a week later to 1. FC Nürnberg. BVB then sat top of the table on the penultimate matchday after a 4-3 win against Hamburger SV.
Dede: The game was a classic. Ingo Hertzsch from HSV and Christian Wörns were both sent off in the first half – it was a very frantic game. Our manager Matthias Sammer was also sent to the stands. It was also one of Amoroso’s best games for us: He scored two goals and set up another for Rosicky. We therefore went into our final game with a lot of confidence. Even though we went behind against Bremen after 17 minutes, we didn’t get nervous and always believed in ourselves. Koller made it 1-1 just before half time and the rest is history. We celebrated the title the day after at Borsigplatz and hundreds of thousands of people were there. I’ll never forget all of the happy faces.
DFB.de: Are you still in contact with your teammates from back then?
Dede: Unfortunately not really as the team split up in the years after: Lehmann and Rosicky signed for Arsenal, Ewerthon went to Spain and Reuter and Kohler ended their careers. BVB went into a financial crisis and a lot changed. But I hope that I will see a lot of them again soon at my testimonial in Dortmund on 5th September.
DFB.de: You were the chief of the four Brazilians at BVB back then.
Dede: More like foreign secretary. I was there for the longest amount of time and I know Dortmund the best. Therefore I looked after my fellow countrymen. I helped them with transfers and bureaucratic mumbo jumbo. Sometimes I would get calls in the evening when their TV’s weren’t working. I also had to do a lot of translating. That wasn’t always easy, for example when Matthias Sammer came to me and said that I had to explain to Amoroso or Ewerthon why they weren’t playing. But we had a great time: We often played against Leverkusen’s Brazilian players Zé Roberto and Lucio. They are all great memories and you could write a book on it.
Leonardo de Deus Santos, known as Dede, played for BVB between 1998 and 2011, making 322 Bundesliga appearances and scoring twelve goals. No other foreign player has played more games for BVB than the popular Brazilian.
