DFB Cup Hertha BSC
Kay Bernstein’s widow thanks you for your sympathy
Status: 01.02.2024 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Kaiserslautern ends Hertha’s cup dreams
1. FC Kaiserslautern has ruthlessly dashed Hertha’s great hopes of a home final in the DFB Cup. The Palatinate team prevailed in the quarter-finals in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, which was sold out with 74,245 spectators, and can now hope for a return on May 25th.
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The dream of the cup final in the Olympic Stadium at home has shattered. Hertha BSC loses to Kaiserslautern in the quarter-finals. The widow of the late President Kay Bernstein is in the stadium for the first time since her husband’s death. She addresses the fans.
Things got emotional even before the quarter-final game in the DFB Cup kicked off. Hertha BSC fans remembered the late club president Kay Bernstein with a gigantic choreography. A photo of Bernstein, who died on January 16th at the age of just 43, was shown on the billboards – accompanied by a quote from him: “Let us have the courage to become better. If we take this to heart, we can look to a future in which we can all proudly wear the Hertha flag on our chests and feel part of the whole.”
Bernstein’s widow Eileen Bernstein-Rose sat in the stands and was visibly moved. Before the cup quarter-final against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, she addressed the fans directly and thanked them for their sympathy in a letter: “I would like to thank you for your incredible sympathy in every respect. “It gives the family and me a bit of comfort during this incredibly difficult time,” wrote Bernstein-Rose in the capital club’s newsletter to the members: “I am overwhelmed by every smallest but sincere gesture, every kind word, every line of your banners.” And further: “Today it’s called: Victory! And thus come a little closer to Kay’s and our dream of winning the trophy!”
Eileen Bernstein-Rose in the stands on Wednesday evening
Quelle: picture alliance/nordphoto GmbH/Engler
It should not be. Hertha clearly lost the game against Kaiserslautern 1:3 and seemed inhibited for over 90 minutes. “We don’t need to sugarcoat anything. It was a day where we could have won. But it doesn’t work if you don’t score any goals. It may be that we dreamed too much about the finale. We were blocked in the first half, it was a hide-and-seek game for my team,” said Hertha coach Pal Dardai.
Gersbeck plays his first game after a beating in the summer training camp
Dardai surprised with his lineup. So he gave preference to Marius Gersbeck in goal over the actual regular goalkeeper Tjark Ernst. Gersbeck played in a competitive game for Hertha for the first time after returning to Berlin and being sentenced to a fine following a fight at the summer training camp in Austria. Bernstein also always stood up for the 28-year-old and gave him a second chance.
“We have a lot to thank Kay for. It hurts even more that we can’t look at the sky and tell him: We’ve progressed one round,’” said Gersbeck, visibly moved, after the game.
