Esther Sedlaczek has been moderating the ARD “Sportschau” since 2021. Before that she worked for Sky as a field reporter. Bild: imago images/Sven Simon
Bundesliga
About six years ago, Borussia Dortmund was in shock. Trigger: the bomb attack on the team bus in mid-April shortly before the quarter-final first leg in the Champions League against Monaco.
At that time, several cluster bombs were detonated. The windows of the BVB bus broke, Marc Bartra injured his hand and arm. The Dortmund professionals at the time were in shock and at times scared to death. Nevertheless, the team started the game just one day later and was eliminated after the first and second leg.
Esther Sedlaczek comments on the attack in a Sky documentary
A new documentary from Sky is now dedicated to what happened six years ago. From April 10, “The Attack – Attack on BVB” can be seen there.
Esther Sedlaczek is also part of the documentation. The current ARD presenter is currently leading through the “Sportschau” and was a Sky presenter and reporter from 2011 to 2021. On the evening of the game between Dortmund and Monaco, she was on duty in the stadium and was supposed to conduct the interviews with those responsible.
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The 37-year-old explains the course of the show at the time: “You do your first switch to the studio, then your second. Around 8 p.m. you know you’re talking to Thomas Tuchel. That’s when the first message came that the conversation was delayed , the bus is a little late – you don’t think anything of it.”
Later she waited and heard that Tuchel would be even more late. “At some point you think: ‘But that’s going to take a really long time. There must be a lot going on outside,'” explains Sedlaczek. She explains that she was then told that the BVB trainer would not come to the interview after all because “something had happened”.
“Suddenly you don’t feel really safe in this stadium anymore because you don’t know what can happen.”
Esther Sedlaczek on the evening when the BVB bus was attacked.
“Then events took a turn and one heard that there had been an attack on the bus. But you don’t know in which dimension and which dimensions it can still have. All of a sudden you don’t feel really safe in this stadium anymore because you don’t know what can happen”, Sedlaczek explains the emotional moments after the attack became known.
Esther Sedlaczek (right) interviews BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke (centre) after the attack.Image: imago sport photo service / Thomas Bielefeld
Shortly afterwards, the former Sky reporter is asked in the documentary about the procedure after the attack, especially about the fact that the game was made up just one day later. With this answer, Sedlaczek becomes more and more emotional: “You have to say clearly that it was not an easy situation for those responsible either. There was certainly pressure in certain places and from certain places. Maybe it was just the expectation that the game would be played the next day. But…”
“It was the shock of her life and it just can’t be processed in 24 hours.”
Esther Sedlaczek about the fact that the game was played again the day after the attack.
Then the reporter takes a deep breath and pauses briefly: “The boys are sitting in this bus, experiencing the shock of their lives and that’s not just to say it casually, it WAS the shock of their lives and it just can’t be processed in 24 hours.” After that Sedlaczek is looking for the right words and his eyes are already glassy. She adds something: “And that’s actually…” Pause. She starts again: “That’s…” Another short pause: “Yes… somehow does something to me right now when you see and hear it that way. It’s emotional.”
Similar to the BVB professionals, the presenter also seems to have processed the events of April 2017 well. She is regularly in action in front of the camera again, both as a presenter and on the sidelines as a reporter.
