Lions and Patriots meet in Munich as Hutchinson and Maye are hurt in the NFL game

Football fans take over Munich

Munich hosted the NFL game between the Detroit Lions and the New England Patriots on Sunday, 15 November, and football fans filled the city's pubs and fan zone beforehand. The Hofbräuhaus has been the official Lions meeting point since Thursday, 12 November, because the league lets the home team choose its fan pub, and the Lions picked the best-known tavern in the city after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants had used Munich venues. Fans came from the United States and across Europe, some only for this single game. Blue and white dominated the crowds, and a brass band played "Sweet Caroline" inside the Hofbräuhaus. The pub's Tobias Ranzinger said the football fans had been friendly and cheerful. One fan from Hamburg, Lukas, queued for two hours in near-zero temperatures to get in.

Hutchinson and Maye injured in the game

Aiden Hutchinson, whose great-grandfather came from a small village in Ticino, wears the Swiss cross next to the US flag on his helmet. Before the game he said it would be great to someday play in Switzerland. On the game's first drive, Amon-Ra St. Brown, the German-born Lions receiver, scored a touchdown. Hutchinson, meanwhile, was with the team doctor. He had tackled Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and then jumped in celebration when his knee gave way, and he went down immediately. Reports published during the game listed Hutchinson as questionable and said it was unclear whether he would return. Maye also left the field injured for the locker room, and his condition was likewise unclear.

Detroit's push for German fans

The Lions' vice president of communications, Eamonn Reynolds, said the game in Germany was long overdue, and pointed to St. Brown as the reason. It is the Lions' first international game since London in 2015, and a return had been planned for 2020 before the Corona pandemic intervened. The team built a fan zone across two streets at Odeonsplatz with a stage, cheerleaders, an immersive player tunnel and a food truck from the Detroit rapper Eminem, and rapper Big Sean was scheduled to perform there. Detroit is one of eleven teams holding marketing rights for Germany. Team CEO Rich Haddad said the Lions would build two playgrounds in the city and hand out food to needy families on Sunday. Reynolds said the team hopes German fans without a favourite team will pick the Lions after this weekend.

Robert Kraft on the Patriots

Patriots owner Robert Kraft, 85, told DIE WELT that the Patriots' last game in Germany, three years earlier, felt like a Super Bowl because of the fan support, and that the team had come to win. Kraft, who bought the Patriots 32 years ago, said the team's German fans had stood behind it in good and bad times. Last season ended with a 13:29 Super Bowl loss to Seattle. Kraft said he worries about antisemitism in the United States and that fighting it is his central goal. DIE WELT estimates his fortune at 15.2 billion dollars.