The time has come on Saturday: The third derby this season between Hertha and Union is coming up in Berlin. The coach of the Iron, Urs Fischer, would miss Hertha in the league. The Swiss also found something in common with his counterpart Felix Magath.
Urs Fischer would regret Hertha BSC’s relegation from the Bundesliga. The coach of 1. FC Union Berlin said in an interview before the duel with Hertha BSC the “kicker” (Monday): “It would be a shame something would be missing, derbies are part of it.”
While the Unioners want to set new goals for this season after the 1-0 win against 1. FC Köln in seventh with 41 points and can look to international business, the western rival from the capital is fighting against relegation.
Hertha must do it on its own, “not hope for others, because hope is sometimes hopeless,” said Fischer. The 56-year-old Swiss also emphasized: “But I am confident that Hertha will stay up in the league.” Before the city duel next Saturday (6.30 p.m. / Sky) in the Olympic Stadium, Hertha slipped to the penultimate place in the table.
After winning the first game under Felix Magath, which he could only watch from the hotel due to a corona infection, Hertha lost 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen. The club, with their consistently high standards, scored 15 points fewer than the Union team, who are only playing their third Bundesliga season.
“It’s going to be another hard-fought game on Saturday, everyone’s hot, and the whole thing gets pumped up again during the week. A derby,” said Fischer. There have already been two of them this season: Union won the first leg at home 2-0 in the championship and 3-2 at Hertha in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup.
Fischer has the usual sober attitude towards Magath’s often ridiculed medicine ball units: “Even today there are still exercises that make absolute sense with them. For example, when we have our preparations in the summer and do a strength-endurance course, the medicine ball is there.”
For the Swiss, the more or less constant upheaval in the Irons with the departure of top performers is part of it: “You have to deal with it, you have to accept it. Of course, we’ve had a lot of departures lately, but we still managed it and played a great first half of the season.” There are “bigger ones than Union Berlin.”
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Another departure in the summer is already on the horizon: it’s no secret that Taiwo Awoniyi, Union’s top scorer this season, is dreaming of the Premier League. Newcastle, West Ham and Southampton are said to be interested in the Nigerian, according to a report by the Goal portal.
There is a fee of 30 million euros in the room. “That’s a nice sum, for us it would be an entry into a whole new dimension,” said Managing Director Oliver Ruhnert DAZN about the speculation without confirming it. “Even in the event that Taiwo leaves us, we would look for and find a solution for the next season.” Or as Fischer generally said about departures: “Travellers shouldn’t be held up.”
