In the fight to stay up, Hertha BSC still has everything in their own hands. Nevertheless, the Berliners are trembling before the season finale at BVB. The two match points against Bielefeld and Mainz have left their mark.
Felix Magath has seen it all in his 502 Bundesliga games as head coach. And yet the upcoming relegation showdown at Borussia Dortmund brings the experienced coach of Hertha BSC a little upset.
“I’ll hardly sleep the night before the game,” revealed Magath beforehand. The old master knows: His team has a lot to lose on Saturday (3:30 p.m. / Sky), after two unnecessarily given match balls against Arminia Bielefeld (1: 1) and Mainz 05 (1: 2), the Berliners continue to tremble about staying in the 1st Bundesliga.
The Hertha have it in their own hands, a measly point would be enough for relegation. Otherwise there is a risk of relegation, possible opponents there would be Werder Bremen, HSV or Darmstadt 98.
“I see a reason for hope because we’ve stabilized. We’ve achieved the minimum goal – now we want to achieve the maximum goal,” explained Magath two days before the guest appearance at BVB. He was “slightly tense and nervous”, but he was before every game, the 68-year-old assured.
The Berliners take a three-point lead over VfB Stuttgart into the season finale, but the goal difference speaks for the Swabians. For sports director Fredi Bobic, however, “no more incendiary speech” is needed to swear in the players. “Everyone knows what it’s about. Now it’s time to radiate confidence and self-confidence,” the official said.
Magath warns Hertha BSC: “You have to completely overhaul the club”
Line boss Magath could help that he developed a functioning player structure in the capital surprisingly quickly. The times when the old lady surrendered to her opponents almost defenseless are over.
The veteran coach has helped many a previously unhappy professional to gain new momentum: players like Lucas Tousart, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Davie Selke have recently flourished.
Magath made it clear on Wednesday evening at a media event hosted by the Berlin publishing house that there is still a lot going on at Hertha.
“You have to completely renew the club,” clarified the trainer who was hired as a rescuer. Because in addition to sporting problems, the club has been paralyzed by the recurring quarrels at management level for years.
President Werner Gegenbauer, investor Lars Windhorst, sports director Fredi Bobic: They all had recently clashed again and again, and sometimes shared their differences about the direction of the club in public. Secondary theaters of war that were unwelcome for Magath.
Hertha BSC: Magath leaves his future open
First of all, staying in the league is the priority. If this succeeds, Magath will play his last game (for the time being) as Hertha coach in Dortmund.
“I haven’t thought about what would happen on Sunday. I’m fully focused on Saturday,” emphasized the 68-year-old on Thursday.
It is particularly important to Magath that his protégés at BVB appear as a cohesive unit again. In the 2-1 draw against Mainz, too many players had left the basic order and the team suddenly seemed unstable again.
Even Magath cannot achieve miracles. He recently said about the state of the squad: “This team was not a team. We have two to three very good foreign players in the squad who have not yet taken root in Berlin. Then we have two to three good German players who like to are here, but still have to improve in quality.”
Also means that staying up in the league alone will not be enough to fix all of Hertha’s construction sites. However, it would make the absolutely necessary restart considerably easier.
And Felix Magath could finally sleep peacefully again.
Heiko Lütkehus (with “AFP” material)