Humble to the city championship (nd current)

If you believe Fredi Bobic, then the fifth Berlin derby in the Bundesliga between 1.FC Union and Hertha BSC was an extremely significant event. “This game gave me an incredible amount of knowledge – for planning in the next few weeks, months and years,” he said pregnantly on Saturday. However, he left open which conclusions and consequences Hertha’s sports director will draw from the 2-0 defeat. The first, quick interpretation of these 90 minutes of football resounded unmistakably from the ranks of the Alte Försterei: “City champions, city champions, Berlin’s number one”, around 20,000 Union fans sang ecstatically.

This derby hit was intoned for the first time after half an hour that evening. Union captain Christopher Trimmel had recently scored the 2-0 with a fine volley. At that moment it was once again to be seen that goals against the city rivals are a very special treat. When Taiwo Awoniyi took the lead after eight minutes, the cheers were also intense, but even more carried by a feeling of relief. The explosiveness of a derby increases the emotional burden, and normal fear of goals conceded often turns into a diffuse feeling of fear. And defeats hurt a lot more. One consequence is the hostility of the 2,400 Hertha fans towards their team after the final whistle, even player jerseys that were given away were thrown back on the lawn.

Football in Berlin: celebrated division “We from the East”, they sing at 1. FC Union – the western part of the city belongs to Hertha BSC

It was quite remarkable that most of the Unioners in the fully occupied Alte Försterei let themselves be carried away after half an hour to celebrate the title of the city championship. Their own disappointment and foreign malice would have hit back twice if Hertha BSC had turned the game. But Pal Dardai’s team didn’t even give the impression of wanting to defend themselves. The coach later criticized the “body language” of his players. And he drew a sobering conclusion: “If we’re honest, we didn’t get a real shot on goal today.”

Hertha BSC had at least tried six times. The first shot on the Union goal was also the most dangerous: right-back Peter Pekarik aimed just wide of the left post after 37 minutes from a half-right position. Almost resignedly, Dardai described his efforts to turn the game around. “In the end we all had our strikers on the field and were still harmless offensively.” The defense is anything but stable. On Saturday she allowed 16 shots on goal by Union, a 4-0 for the Köpenicker would have shown the course of the game better in view of high-quality chances. Now, after conceding two goals in the derby, Hertha BSC is in 14th place with the second worst goal difference of all Bundesliga clubs, only three points away from the relegation zone.

Red must win Oliver Ruhnert, manager of 1. FC Union Berlin and
Left franchise boss in Iserlohn, about football and politics

Urs Fischer was standing a few meters from Dardai. Of course, the coach of Union footballers seemed a little more relaxed than his colleague. Visually, at the press conference, however, he did not give the impression that he had just won a convincing victory in an important game. Not even with the following sentence: “I’m really enjoying it at the moment,” he said with an almost motionless expression. Other words of the Swiss were also more important. “We would do well to maintain our modesty and humility.” This was Fischer’s answer to the question whether with fifth place and 20 points after twelve match days the goal of staying relegated to the season would not have to change? The unequivocal no between the lines is one reason for Union’s strength – and the current shift in power in Berlin’s football cosmos.

For Fischer it was the fifth Berlin derby in two years, the second victory is the result of considered, continuous work in a level-headed and prudent environment. Dardai is the third coach at Hertha BSC during this time. He had to leave in the summer of 2019 because the club, under the eternal, power-conscious manager Michael Preetz, always wanted more than he could. Since investor Lars Windhorst, who was recently declared insolvent in the Niederlangen, wanted to take the third step in Charlottenburg before taking the first step. Talking about the Champions League doesn’t make the relegation battle any easier. Probably in this mix, Dardai called himself a »little Pal« and after three defeats at the start of the season speculated: »Hertha BSC has probably been looking for a great coach for a long time.« Pal Dardai, Hertha’s most successful coach of the past decade, is not to be envied. In January he was brought back – and prevented further relegation. He was dissatisfied then and is now. He publicly criticized the composition of the team. What the 0: 2 in the derby changes in all that, for the time being, only Fredi Bobic as Hertha’s new strong man knows.