Ideally, football is an exercise in joy. But that was out of the question on Sunday in Berlin when Hertha BSC played Fortuna Düsseldorf in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, five days after the news of the death of the 43-year-old club president Kay Bernstein. The game began, and it was as if the wide, cold area lay under a layer of emotion, pathos and silence, which was only broken by the Düsseldorf fans in the visitors’ block when five minutes had passed. In an unrealistic atmosphere, Berlin and Düsseldorf drew 2-2. But that was little more than a side note that day.
The expressions of grief had made their way through western Berlin long before the game began. A silent funeral march began at Theodor-Heuss-Platz, in which delegations from numerous clubs from the first and second leagues also took part. It ended in front of the Olympic Stadium, which in recent days had been transformed into a place of pilgrimage for wounded Hertha hearts. Numerous fans laid down roses, scarves and candles; There was a huge amber portrait in front of one wall.
When the mourners reached the curve where Bernstein grew up, there was silence. While the teams warmed up, solemn music played, primarily German rock ballads, but also John Lennon’s “Imagine” and “My Way”, in the version by the late Berlin unique Harald Juhnke. The stadium screens were flooded with black and white photos of Bernstein. There was also a picture of the presidential chair: draped with flowers in blue and white, with the megaphone that Bernstein once used as leader of the Ultra organization “Harlekins” and with the characteristic Hertha training jacket that Bernstein wore.
Tabakovic dedicates his goal to Bernstein
What followed was probably the most moving moment of Sunday: when the curve shouted “Ha, Ho, He”, the battle cry of the Hertha fans, following a minute’s silence and a speech in which stadium announcer Fabian von Wachsmann raised his voice several times almost failed. “It breaks our hearts,” he said. “The gap you leave behind will not be able to be filled.” Many employees from the office stood arm in arm on the sidelines. Acting President Fabian Drescher and Managing Director Thomas E. Herrich also held each other close.
When the game kicked off, there was silence. The Rhinelanders also refrained from singing in the first few minutes – and held up a banner in memory of Bernstein. “Another football is possible.”
In the past few days, the Olympic Stadium has been transformed into a place of pilgrimage: numerous fans have laid down roses, scarves and candles; There is a huge amber portrait in front of a wall.
(Photo: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Under normal circumstances, the game itself would have required spectators to show respect. For a long time, the performance bore no relation to the beauty of the goals, especially Hertha’s. Haris Tabakovic, known simply as “Fluppe” because of his last name, grabbed a ball in the penalty area that Hertha striker Derry Scherhant and two Düsseldorf players had disagreed about and placed it almost exactly into the top right corner from 14 meters (30 .minute). He dedicated the goal to Bernstein: Instead of celebrating with his comrades, he ran to the substitutes’ bench and was handed one of the black T-shirts that Hertha’s professionals had put on over their work clothes during the warm-up. “We Herthaners are in deep sadness,” it was written there. Then Tabakovic pointed to the sky.
The fact that Düsseldorf equalized shortly before the break through Isak Johannesson (44th) came to everyone’s astonishment. Until then, they had hardly provided any arguments that would have led to the belief that they could score points in Berlin. But Hertha took the lead again in stoppage time in the first half, this time thanks to the kind help of Fortuna goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier. He involuntarily served Scherhant and he chased the ball into the corner. “We don’t need to talk about it for long,” Kastenmeier said later. “This can’t happen to me.”
In the final phase, both teams went to work more relaxed and with greater verve
After the break the game became more colorful in every respect. Among other things, because the teams freed themselves from the anxiety, there was a greater preoccupation with the increasingly wild game in the stands – and because Hertha’s central defender Marc Oliver Kempf was now doing Kempf things. The former Bundesliga professional, who is always on the move at Hertha, gave Jona Niemiec two penalties within five minutes. Christos Tzolis safely converted the first penalty to make it 2-2 (50th), but he put the second one next to the goal.
In the final phase, both teams were characterized by the fact that they worked more relaxed and with greater verve. In most cases, however, they lacked the necessary precision. Herthas Tabakovic, who put a ball into the side netting (72′), and Tzolis for Fortuna had the best chances when he hastily missed from twelve meters in the 90th minute. It remained a draw, which the Rhinelanders wanted to celebrate loudly, even though they slipped to fifth place; By the way, Hertha is eighth.
The Hertha team disapproved of the calls for Fortuna even louder. They remained together with the crew, in complete silence; The team had carried a banner in front of the curve that read what had marked the day in Westend: the mourning for Bernstein.