The Inferno of Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park: Abandon all hope ye who enter here - © © imago
The Inferno of Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park: Abandon all hope ye who enter here - © © imago

Don't go down to Dortmund - the building of Fortress Signal Iduna Park

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As well as one of the most talented squads in world football, new Borussia Dortmund head coach Peter Bosz has inherited a bonafide fortress from predecessor Thomas Tuchel.

The statistics don't lie: BVB have not lost to Bundesliga opposition at the Signal Iduna Park in 28 months. Since then, opposing teams have arrived with a nagging feeling of dread in their stomachs, pre-match butterflies flutterbying less than merrily. Most have left as sick as the proverbial parrot having been stung several times by the busy and supremely talented black-and-yellow bees.

In Dortmund's last 38 home matches in the Bundesliga, 31 other teams have been left licking their wounds with nothing more to show for their efforts than a hefty, sweaty bag of laundry for their kitman. Seven teams have emerged with a point, including four of 17 visitors last season, but no-one has managed to deprive the hosts, ungenerous to a fault, of all three.

Watch: BVB old boy Lewandowski hands Dortmund their last home defeat in April 2015:

Not since Robert Lewandowski, perhaps privy to some secret of BVB's inner sanctum as a former Dortmund disciple, scored a first-half header for Bayern Munich on Matchday 27 of the 2014/15 season have home fans left with their heads down. And the Dortmund coach that day was called Jürgen Klopp.

Kloppo's successor, Tuchel, did not taste defeat once in the Dortmund dug-out in a Bundesliga game, and witnessed his team outscore opponents 90 to 22 in that time. Anyone feeling sick yet?

The Dortmund fans certainly aren't. The only pangs for Europe's biggest average crowd at more than 81,000 have come from their constant, never-sated hunger for seeing opposing teams put to the sword in spectacular fashion every home game.

Watch: The phenomenon that is the 'The Yellow Wall'

New Dortmund gaffer Bosz will experience the collective cravings of the black-and-yellow bastion that is the Signal Iduna Park for the first time in Saturday's Supercup Klassiker against Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich. A baptism of fire for some, but the Dutchman has a knack of keeping the natives happy.

Bosz suffered just one home defeat in the league during his single-season stint at Ajax last term - almost a year ago on 20 August 2016. Drawing an emphatic line under that solitary Eredivisie reverse, he went on to oversee 14 wins and two draws, in which the Amsterdam club averaged over three goals per game and recorded eight clean sheets.

"I hate losing," the 53-year-old told media on Thursday. "I've always put pressure on myself. That ties in with being at a club like Dortmund, who are always under pressure themselves. Obviously I'm really looking forward to the Supercup. Over 80,000 fans, the Yellow Wall and Bayern Munich - I can't wait. You have to enjoy it, but we want to win."

Watch: Peter Bosz looks ahead to his Supercup debut as Dortmund head coach

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