Nothing new in the west of Berlin?
Well not quite.
Hertha also played in front of a larger audience on Saturday after 300 days without spectators; around 18,000 spectators gathered in the large Olympic Stadium for the game against VfL Wolfsburg. On the one hand, that was almost 7,000 fewer people than the authorities had allowed for the game. On the other hand, they provided a sufficiently homely atmosphere. Until in the end there was a classic déjà vu experience in Berlin’s Westend: a swelling rumble, which was replaced by euphoria in between, until in the end everything ended in a shrill whistle.
The reason: Hertha negligently gave up a lead that had been hard-won in the second half against Wolfsburg, lost 2-1 in the end – and is therefore the only pointless team in the league: bottom of the table. All of this was framed by large and small skirmishes, in which it comes to real and supposed selfishness. Because the golden boy Matheus Cunha, 22, is still a topic of conversation – coach Pal Dardai accused him of walking after the opening failure at 1. FC Köln and then deleted him for the game against Wolfsburg – and Davie Selke and Dodi Lukébakio argued for a long time the execution of the penalty kick. “Now everything is in the bucket again, everything is shit. We have to tick everything off extremely quickly,” said striker Marco Richter next week, after a duel between two sphinx-like beings.
Sphinx-like because trying to come to terms with Hertha and Wolfsburg is bold. Wolfsburg opened the game with two good chances through Lacroix and Weghorst, but after that it was a “boring game”, as Wolfsburg international Ridle Baku admitted. His team was only indirectly convinced of their own game idea. After the break, the game became livelier, which also had to do with the fact that the Hertha returnee Kevin Prince Boateng, who always directed, had to cancel shortly before the break. He has a back, as the saying goes.
Hertha coach Dardai is happy to have three players fighting over the execution of a penalty kick
His substitute Stevan Jovetic woke up Hertha – among other things with a volleyball that was well worth seeing, so not only in a figurative sense. Then Lukébakio fell in the penalty area because VfL central defender Brooks hit him in the foot. Selke grabbed the ball and put it on the spot. But that led to a debate that Selke remembered in retrospect as five minutes. And which Dardai thought to be welcome, because he would rather have three players fighting over the execution of a penalty than a team in which everyone has “sports chocolate in their pants.”
The result of the discussion: In the end, Selke agreed to the role of the wiser who gives in, but less out of inner conviction than out of sheer necessity, the game had to go on. After all: Lukébakio scored against his compatriot Koen Casteels, and everything seemed to be fine again.
Only: Wolfsburg reacted, was more aggressive and bit on the counterattack. Xaver Schlager hit a precise pass into the barrel of Baku, which escaped Dedryck Boyata and then overcame Hertha’s goalkeeper with a low shot into the so-called goalkeeper corner (73rd). But that’s not all: Lukas Nmecha, who was substituted by Mark van Bommel (compliant with the rules), made it 2-1 in the 88th minute – and thus Wolfsburg’s second win in the second Bundesliga game of the current season. “I’m proud of the players for coming back,” said van Bommel.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Cunha will be leaving Berlin
Another return that is emerging, he left uncommented for the time being: that of national player Luca Waldschmidt in the Bundesliga, loud image the current player from Benfica Lisbon should already complete the medical check, which is mandatory for transfers, on Saturday. Which brings us back to Cunha. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Brazilian will leave Berlin and will soon complete one of these mandatory examinations that his strike partner from last year – the striker Jhon Córdoba, who moved to Krasnodar in Russia – has already undergone.
Before and after the game, Hertha’s coach Pal Dardai confirmed that the non-appointment of the Brazilian international was an “educational measure”. He told Cunha that he would slip back into the team when he was ready to “fight and run” again. “Nobody in my team goes for a walk,” he said afterwards. Cunha had suggested that he do everything on Saturday to refute the allegation of strolling, but he wanted to “hurt the Brazilian international”, said Dardai; in the end it was too much of a good thing. If the consequence is to fall back on footballers “with less quality”, he will do that, said Dardai.
Manager Fredi Bobic in turn confirmed that they are in talks with various clubs. He did not confirm which clubs these were, but did emphasize that Cunha would not be allowed to pull below market value. Whether Atlético Madrid really offered 25 million euros, as it was said in Spanish newspapers? Negotiations were tough, Bobic reported.