The Christmas season is also the time to take stock. This is what happened in the podcast “Kicker meets DAZN”, which Alexander Schlüter moderated himself until the season before last and in which he was now a guest. The following was about, among other things, the most emotional games of the first half of the season – and HSV.
Schlüter hosted DAZN for years before moving to “Prime Video” in 2024, where he led through many Champions League games alongside experts like Christoph Kramer. In the summer of 2025, the 40-year-old then moved on to ARD, where he is the face of the “Sportschau” on Saturday evening alongside Esther Sedlaczek and Lea Wagner.
Alexander Schlüter and a “huge mistake” in the northern derby
The Hamburg native, who was born in Göttingen, has also moderated several HSV games on this show. But he was most impressed by a game that took place on a Sunday afternoon. Specifically: on December 7th at 3:30 p.m. Merlin Polzin’s team welcomed SV Werder Bremen – and won 3-2 thanks to Yussuf Poulsen’s winning goal. Schlüter wasn’t at the Volksparkstadion himself that day, but he still named the first Bundesliga northern derby in seven and a half years his personal “Game of the Year”.
Alexander Schlüter now regularly welcomes expert Bastian Schweinsteiger (l.) at his side on ARD. imago images/Norbert Schmidt
“This has finally happened again in the Bundesliga,” says Schlüter in the podcast and says: “The region where I now live was highly emotional. And HSV against Bremen was one of the best games of the season for me in terms of play. I didn’t see that coming – including great goals, right up front that backheel trick from Luka Vuskovic.” Schlüter watched the duel in his apartment in Hamburg, but he knows that it wasn’t just the 18-year-old Croatian’s dream goal that made it 2-1 that triggered “crazy emotions”.
Schlüter raves about Vuskovic’s dream goal for HSV
He regrets: “I made a huge mistake and didn’t bother to go to the stadium. I was really annoyed, but I still thought it was great that I watched the game live (on TV; editor) for 90 minutes.”
DAZN reporter Benni Zander (l.) is also interviewing Werder coach Horst Steffen this season. imago images/Nordphoto
Finally, it was Poulsen who scored the decisive goal in the 84th minute. Many HSV fans won’t forget this moment in a hurry – and the same thing happened to Schlüter’s friend Benni Zander. For the 36-year-old presenter and commentator, who was co-host of “Kicker meets DAZN” for years, this goal is the “moment of the year” in the Bundesliga. Poulsen’s booth “showed why we need these derbies,” says Zander. “There are no more electrifying games, even Bayern against Dortmund can’t come close.” That’s why Zander, who stands or sits at the microphone for DAZN, among other things, hopes: “I want Schalke to come back, I want Hertha to come back – because we need these derbies. They make up the Bundesliga – and the northern derby above all.”
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If Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC were promoted, and if Union Berlin, along with BVB, also stayed in the league, there would be even more (city) derbies next season. With its return to the Bundesliga, HSV has already brought the duels with St. Pauli and Werder back into the German upper house. Both were held in the Volkspark in the first half of the season, and new editions await in the new year. Then HSV wants to create new derby highlights away from home.
