Super Bowl in Las Vegas: Triumphant touchdown – Chiefs win dramatically against the 49ers

Biting her nails, she watched – like many other spectators in the stadium and on the TV screens – as her friend and his team beat the San Francisco 49ers 25:22 in a dramatic final phase with overtime and thus defended their title from the previous year. Overall, it was the third Super Bowl victory in just five years for the team from Missouri.

As the Chiefs forward stood at the winner's podium, Swift blew kisses to his hand. With the Vince Lombardi Trophy in his hand, the 34-year-old sang the Elvis hit “Viva Las Vegas” before finally giving Swift a heartfelt hug and kiss in the yellow-red confetti rain, surrounded by cameras. The love story of the football professional and the pop superstar reached an emotional climax in front of an audience of millions in Las Vegas. It was the perfect fusion of sports, glamor and pop culture – a godsend for the National Football League.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime situation and I’ve had the opportunity to experience it three times now,” Kelce said a little later. And he declared war on the competition: “We now have the chance to make it three times in a row.”

The fact that it was enough to defend their title for the first time in almost 20 years, when the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, hung by a thread for the Chiefs for a long time. And it took the entire class of their quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was not only voted the game's most valuable player (MVP), but is also on the way to becoming the best playmaker of all time. At the age of 28, he has already won the Super Bowl three times, been named Finals MVP three times and was the best player of the regular season twice.

The 49ers started the game better. Led by quarterback Brock Purdy, they dominated on offense and hardly allowed the Chiefs to have any good scenes on defense. It even got to the point where, in the second quarter, Kelce angrily stormed up to his coach Andy Reid, bumping into him and yelling at him because he wasn't on the field during an important scene. “I just told him how much I loved him,” Kelce joked after the encounter. And the trainer also commented on the situation with humor: “He tested my hip.”

San Francisco led 10-0 after 26 minutes. In the stands, Jason Kaiser from Düsseldorf and Hans-Otto Grass from Düren also hoped that their favorite team would bring home the victory. Kaiser's grandfather was a 49ers fan and took him to the stadium for the first time when he was six. He has actually been a fan of the Las Vegas Raiders ever since. “But I also have sympathy for San Francisco,” he explained, why he, like Grass and their wives, wore 49ers jerseys. “The tour was expensive,” he said, “but it was a dream of mine and we experience moments that you won’t forget.”

Mahomes, but also the team from California itself, prevented things from getting even nicer for the Germans. If you want to beat Kansas City, you can't afford any mistakes, but the 49ers, who were superior for long stretches, struggled with unnecessary turnovers and too many penalties. And so, under the eyes of celebrities such as LeBron James, Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber and Jay-Z, the game developed into an exchange of blows in which kicker Harrison Butker led the Chiefs to 19:19 seconds before the end of the game extra time was shot.

There, Purdy and Co. marched across the field but failed to carry the egg into the end zone. Instead, they left the door open for Mahomes with the field goal to make it 22:19, who gratefully accepted the invitation. With the decisive touchdown throw to Mecole Hardman, the Chiefs quarterback ended the game and sent his club's red-clad supporters into a frenzy of joy.

Her Super Bowl party began in Las Vegas with Taylor Swift as a star guest. There was only one question Kelce didn't have an answer to: which Swift song he'd hear first at the party? “Whichever one the DJ plays first.”