It was back to business as usual last weekend when the Bundesliga kicked off again after its six-week winter break. Business as usual in more ways than one on a weekend when reigning champions Bayern Munich scored the fastest goal in Bundesliga history while European champions Borussia Dortmund were beaten again.
Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, of course, are not only just about the biggest names in German soccer these days but they are also two sides headed for an all-German Champions' League quarter-final clash next month.
If the Champion's League were to be assessed on Bundesliga form, there would be no contest. Second placed Bayern have been just off the pace for most of the season and their 3-0 win over bottom club Hamburg on Saturday saw them close the gap on surprise leaders Kaiserslautern to just one point.
By contrast, Dortmund, winners of the Champion's League last season and of the Bundesliga title in the two previous seasons, have looked wounded and ill-motivated throughout an autumn campaign which has left them closer to the bottom than the top, currently in 11th place and 21 points behind Kaiserslautern.
The first weekend of the restarted season confirmed all that had gone before. Dortmund failed miserably in a 2-1 away defeat by second from bottom Bochum.
Bayern's Brazilian striker Elber made Bundesliga history by scoring after just 11 seconds, following a pass from German international midfielder Mario Basler. Having struck so early, the Brazilian repeated himself just before halftime, thus defying the common perception that a Brazilian can never thrive in the sub-zero temperatures of January soccer in Germany.
While Trapattoni can consider himself still on course in both the Champion's League and the Bundlesliga races, his compatriot and opposite number at Borussia Dortmund, Nevio Scala, must be more than a little bemused by his side's fluctuating fortunes.
Unimpressive at home, the reigning European Champions nonetheless were among those Champion's League sides (Manchester United and Dinamo Kiev were others) to have their autumn qualifying group wrapped up even before the last round of Group qualifiers.
It may be that Dortmund found themselves in a relatively modest qualifying group - Parma, Galatasaray and Sparta Prague are all capable of useful results but, just at the moment, they are hardly the strongest club sides in European soccer. It could also be that with a side of experienced, injury prone and ageing stars, Dortmund have been lacking motivation on the home front.
Certainly, Scala seemed to admit as much when saying recently: "It's not easy to motivate a side that has won as much as this one and it was only to be expected that, at first, there was huge diffidence towards me and my work methods. On top of that my poor command of German made it hard for me to explain things fully and to get close to my players. Now, fortunately, my German is a bit better and so are my relations with my players".
Scala's remarks about relations with his players is a polite reference to the series of furious autumnal polemics that saw senior Dortmund players such as German international Andreas Moeller and Swiss international Stephane Chapuisat argue bitterly with the Italian coach re his tactical dispositions.
Given the miserable restart made by Dortmund and given also that the German club chose to override their coach's opinion and agree to the sale of Portuguese international midfielder Paulo Sousa to Inter Milan last week (reported fee £5.2 million), one wonders about Dortmund and Scala's immediate future.
Scala has a contract that runs to the year 2000 but he is the first to admit that the millennium figure does not mean everything. Born in the countryside and these days owner of a farm in Reggio Emilia, Scala acknowledges that he might be having to climb back up on his tractor soon.
"I am currently at Dortmund and I'm fine. But if things were to go wrong, then I could certainly take a sabbatical or quit altogether. Soccer pleases and entertains me but I remain a farmer."
Scala knows only to well that there is one sure way to delay his return to the farmyard. Success in next month's all German Champion's League clash with Bayern Munich would prompt many Dortmund fans, and club directors alike, to forgive him his domestic failings.
"It wasn't a good draw for us, nor for Bayern because both of us could have gone further in the competition. Overall in Europe at the moment, Manchester United seem that bit above the others to me even if the side that I fear most is still Juventus."
Dortmund may be down, but they are not out yet.
