Streich about Petersen: “A great loss”

Nils Petersen (left) will be absent from coach Christian Streich from the summer.

IMAGO/Kirchner-Media

Shortly after Nils Petersen announced the end of his career after this season on his Instagram account, the comment column literally exploded. Within a day there were well over 1000 people who left little heart emojis and often a little wistful messages. The SC record scorer will be missed, not only by his teammates, opponents and fans, he will also be missed by his coach. “It will be a great loss for us, both personally and in terms of sport,” said Christian Streich about Petersen, who informed him the day before the public announcement.

On the one hand, the 34-year-old is “a totally integrative factor in the team, simply a very good guy”, on the other hand he has very special final qualities, explained the SC coach. “He scores goals in every training session, they’re brutal.” This season he was only able to show that very rarely in competitive games, but his goal in the victory in the DFB Cup round of 16 in Sandhausen certainly belonged in this category. Otherwise there was only one penalty goal in the last Europa League group game at Qarabag Agdam.

“He’s technically so good, he’s such a quick and good decision-maker, and he always has the best solution on the tray straight away,” said Streich, praising the qualities of the striker, who came to the Sport-Club on loan from Werder Bremen in 2015 despite of the descent remained, and quickly became a crowd favorite. His coach continues to say to young players: “Watch him and learn how to position yourself and how sharp you are with the ball.” In this respect, Petersen is “world class”.

Gregoritsch is missing against Hertha – chance for Petersen

And he would also have the fitness to continue playing professional football for at least another year, whether at a sports club or another club at home or abroad, Streich is convinced. Nevertheless, he thinks Petersen’s decision was right: “I think he’s at peace with himself, that’s the most important thing.” Now the striker is hoping to get a few more chances to show off his much-praised skills in the remaining nine Bundesliga games and at least one DFB-Pokal game (next Tuesday at his ex-club Bayern Munich).

The fact that Michael Gregoritsch is missing against Hertha because of his fifth yellow card increases the chances for the home game on Saturday. “He’s a candidate,” said Streich about Petersen, who never started this season in the Bundesliga but has been substituted on 21 times. “Now I will invest everything again so that I can say: ‘You should go when it’s most beautiful.'” Petersen announced on Instagram. He would love to celebrate the renewed qualification for an international competition with the team at the end. A win against Hertha BSC would be another big step in that direction.