A goal by Lucas Alario and a goal by Karim Bellarabi led to a win for Leverkusen against Hertha Berlin. (1:45)
Union have excelled through shrewd football economics and squad building on a smaller budget, but sustaining that over many years might be a much bigger challenge.
On Saturday night, Hertha Berlin will host Union Berlin at the Olympiastadion in a german capital clash that will be highly charged. The two former friends who have become enemies in the past are going to face each other on Saturday in the Bundesliga. You can stream live on Disney+.
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The narrative was supposed to be about the little corner grocery shop trying to take on the bigger, richer supermarket to their west after Union moved up to the Oberhaus. Union showed that efficient use of the cash register and astute scouting can take you places. Hertha fans are hoping that major investor Lars Windhorst kept his mouth shut about the Big City Club when he arrived in 2019.
Windhorst, a successful businessman andentrepreneur, initially invested by purchasing a 37.5% share of the Hertha operating company. He bought more and more shares in order to awaken a sleeping giant, but his involvement has led to chaos at the club and a number of questionable sporting decisions. AC Milan paid a 26.4 million dollar transfer fee for Poland's Krzysztof Piatek, who has been an expensive disappointment. Consider the crazy transfer fees for Lucas Tousart and Dodi Lukebakio, which were set against the grain of more modest outlays elsewhere in the Bundesliga.
Hertha made a close escape from the drop after folk hero Pal Dardai was brought back for a second spell as coach. A rare relaxing moment for the club of late, Dardai celebrated by smoking a cigar outside the team hotel during a live ZDF-TV interview on the Saturday night institution, das aktuelle Sportstudio.
It was supposed to be the time when Hertha changed for the better. Fredi Bobic was the Sportvorstand, the sporting CEO, that most people wanted in place. Bobic knew he had a mess, an ill-fitting squad, and a coach who would never have been his first choice after the dismissal of Michael Preetz.
Dardai lasted until late November. After only two wins in 14 league games, Bobic had to concede that he had failed his first big test.
The choice of Felix Magath as the third coach of the campaign raised eyebrows, but he got off to a winning start as his assistant, Mark Fotheringham, used his motivational and organisational powers. In the immediate aftermath of the club's rare hour of glory, Windhorst said he wouldn't work with the club president, who he accused of being power hungry.
It is worth reminding everyone that under the 50+1 rule, fans, not investors, are the ones who choose presidents.
While looking back, Windhorst agreed that his financial involvement had brought him nothing but disadvantages.
Whether Hertha can outplay and outdo the Union side that looks set to finish the season at the bottom of the table and in Europe is open for debate.
In November and January, Hertha lost to their fellow Berliners in the league and the DFB-Pokal. Union have a chance of winning the cup and a semifinal against RB Leipzig is just a couple of weeks away. The football operation run by Oliver Ruhnert is the epitome of calm, even though there has been an element of sometimes unnecessary drama around the club.
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