During a routine DFB-Pokal fixture at fourth-division Viktoria Berlin in August, thousands of visiting Eintracht Frankfurt fans came to life. They noticed that Alexander Meier had come off the bench to warm up and chanted: "Fussball-Gott! Fussball-Gott!"
They wanted to support their most beloved player, who had unexpectedly found himself among the substitutes.
Ask any Eintracht supporter about Meier, and you will get the same answer: "He is our football god." Apart from that, the most exciting piece of trivia available is that he likes to spend his holidays on the beaches of Miami. Meier likes to keep his private life to himself.
"Do you have any rituals before games?" he was once asked in a Q&A session organised by the club. "I'll keep them to myself," he replied. "What kind of cars do you like?" "Black ones." "What is your favourite TV show?" "I barely watch TV." "What do you like to read?" "I don't read too often." "What part of Frankfurt do you live in?" "I'd rather not say."
You get the point. Yet no other player in Frankfurt receives similar adoration and worship. He is the true icon, one who has been with the team through good times and bad, ever since arriving from Hamburg in the summer of 2004 for a fee of just 500,000 euros. A loyal servant for more than 10 years, he has done more than enough to earn his status.
When the deal with HSV was agreed to, Frankfurt still played in the Bundesliga, but they were relegated that season, and coach Willi Reimann, who first suggested signing Meier, was sacked. That didn't really matter -- he scored on his debut under new coach Friedhelm Funkel and ended his first season at the club with nine goals and eight assists.
Fast-forward to 2014, and the stats are truly phenomenal. Meier has 97 league goals in 310 matches, with 11 more in the German Cup. Only Bernd Holzenbein, Bernd Nickel and Jurgen Grabowski have more goals to their name in the club's history. The most impressive record was achieved last season in his only Europa League campaign to date. He netted seven goals in just six games, including a brace in a pulsating 3-3 draw against Porto -- which is not bad, particularly when taking into account that he is not even a striker.
One would expect Meier, who's 6-foot-5, to be the target man in the penalty area, but the reality is totally different. Meier is very good on the ball and likes to play behind the striker, which enables him to sneak into scoring positions unnoticed -- a gift usually associated with a different type of footballer.
His role in the team has become more and more crucial with every season. When his form dipped at the end of 2010-11, Eintracht were relegated. He took them back where they belong, scoring 17 goals and assisting eight more in the second division, then added 16 goals in the Bundesliga to help the team to qualify for Europe.
"Meier is extremely important for Eintracht. He is a very humble, down-to-earth personality, influenced by his parents, with whom he has a close relationship," Eintracht executive chairman Heribert Bruchhagen told Bild two years ago, adding: "He has never sat on the bench. All the coaches rated him very highly."
Enter Thomas Schaaf. In May, the legendary former Werder Bremen boss replaced Armin Veh, who -- according to Meier -- had helped him to progress and fulfill his potential more than any other coach. The new boss had other ideas. Schaaf didn't find a space for Meier, preferring to play Japanese midfielder Takashi Inui in his place.
Thus Meier was left frustrated in the first official game of the season at Viktoria Berlin. He entered the pitch with only 20 minutes remaining, and duly scored the second goal in a 2-0 win, but that didn't change anything.
The disappointment was huge. The veteran star was supposed to be promoted to team captain in place of Pirmin Schwegler, who had left for Hoffenheim in the summer, but the armband went to 24-year-old keeper Kevin Trapp instead. "We understand the qualities of Meier, and we have good options on the bench," Schaaf said, but Meier did not seem happy.
"It's not fun to watch the game instead of playing," the player said, and he even made a rather cynical remark when asked about the changes Schaaf has made. "He's taken us to Norderney," he added, in reference to the coach's favourite preseason camp on the North Sea island.
That's where the gibes stopped, however. Instead of fighting with Schaaf in the media, as one might expect from a player of his popularity, Meier let his feet do the talking. He was left on the bench for the fixtures against Freiburg and Augsburg and didn't make the squad at all for the game versus Wolfsburg but, at the end of September, Schaaf finally gave him a chance at Schalke in a slightly unusual position as a striker alongside new Swiss star Haris Seferovic. That was enough. It took Meier just 15 minutes to find the net, and since then it has been impossible to take him out of the team.
Now, Schaaf can hardly imagine his team without the prolific Fussball-Gott. Meier scored an important goal in a 2-2 draw against Mainz, headed two goals from excellent Seferovic assists in a 3-2 win versus Cologne, and continued his rich vein of form when scoring at Paderborn and against Veh's Stuttgart.
Eintracht lost to Paderborn and Stuttgart, though, and subsequent defeats to Hannover and Bayern Munich suddenly plunged them back into the familiar territory of a relegation battle. Schaaf was starting to feel the pressure, but Meier came to his rescue. He masterminded a great comeback at Borussia Monchengladbach, scoring himself and providing an assist for Inui in a sensational 3-1 win. Then Dortmund came along, and the Fussball-Gott did it again: He scored after just five minutes and was brilliant throughout in a 2-0 win.
What had threatened to become the worst period of his career has turned out to be the best. He is flourishing under the attack-minded Schaaf, adapting to the new boss' tactics, and with eight goals to his name, the 31-year-old is at the top of the Bundesliga scoring charts ahead of the likes of Mario Gotze, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Robert Lewandowski. What's more, he did become captain after all, following an injury to Trapp.
Eintracht fans now have every reason to be delighted, having been given cause to believe that this season can be positive and exciting, despite the summer exits of Sebastian Rode and Sebastian Jung to Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg.
Having recently extended his contract until 2017, Meier will probably never leave the club that has long become his home. He could become more famous elsewhere, but he is content with his career. "I am happy to have played at such a good club for 10 years," he said in an interview with Frankfurter Rundschau. "I am not a guy who always wonders 'What if?' -- I am satisfied with what I have."
Sunday will be a very emotional day for Schaaf, who faces Bremen as a rival for the first time since ending his four-decade association with the club in 2013, but Meier, whose parents still live near Hamburg, could be the man to steal the headlines once more.