On Nov. 25, 2017, I had a spring in my step while making the reassuringly familiar, brisk walk from the Westfalenhallen S-Bahn rail station past the numerous bratwurst vendors, to my favourite football stadium: the Signal Iduna Park, or the Westfalenstadion, as Borussia Dortmund fans still refer to it.
The German Football League (DFL) had, for a second year running, assigned me to commentate for the world TV feed on the fixture that really matters in Germany's bustling industrial west, and my heart was aflutter. To me, there's nothing in world club football that beats it.