A steely show by The Iron Ones deepens woes of their struggling elderly city rivals
While local pleasantries were being exchanged in Dundee and Edinburgh, the only city derby on this season’s Bundesliga fixture list was being played out in Berlin.
The raucous atmosphere of Hertha BSC’S encounter with 1FC Union belied the fact that – unlike the Old Firm, for example – the cross-city encounter does not have a long, rich history, but is still prone to the embarrassing incidents witnessed at Ibrox last Sunday.
Hertha came into being in 1892, Union 74 years later. And it was not until November 2019 that the pair went head-tohead in Germany’s top flight.
The latter’s struggle to win promotion was one factor. The Berlin Wall a significant, and altogether more-sinister impediment.
It came down in November 1989 but its relics remain all around the country’s capital, from the graffitied parts of the East-west divide still standing, to the tack on sale, be it a fridge magnet or a lump of the “original” structure.
They appear as genuine a purchase as buying “the actual brush” Leonardo da Vinci
used to paint the Mona Lisa on ebay.
This was just the ninth time the pair had battled for the Berlin bragging rights in the Bundesliga, and one look at the table would tell you who now holds the upper hand.
Trophyless since unification, Union have their sights sets on qualifying for Europe for the second year in succession, while Hertha – twice champions and veterans of 92 European ties – are battling to avoid relegation.
This result did nothing for the latter cause.
The clash between “The Old Lady” and “The Iron Ones” was watched by a capacity 74,667, including 11,500 away fans – something the Old Firm may wish to reconsider.
Someone on show here with experience of the Glasgow gettogether was central defender Dedryck Boyata, freed by Celtic and picked up by Hertha three seasons ago.
Despite the scoreline, he was one of the better players in a home side shot of confidence after a dismal season, yet he must have written off any notion of a win bonus long before bath time.
By contrast, Union’s morecontrolled approach was always more likely to reap rewards, and so it proved.
They broke the deadlock when Sheraldo Becker’s cross from the left eluded Boyata and everyone else in the Hertha defence, allowing Genki Haraguchi – a teammate of Celtic’s Japanese internationalists – a free header he didn’t squander.
Hertha rallied briefly after the break, possibly inspired by a few choice words Mark Fotheringham has picked during his time in Germany.
Once a midfielder with a host of SPFL clubs, he is now Hertha coach, Felix Magath’s assistant, and would have been relieved to see their men draw level when Timo Baumgartl turned a cross into his own net.
But parity lasted just four minutes, Grisha Proemel putting Union back in front.
And the visitors as good as wrapped up the points when Becker showed a turn of pace Jesse Owens – a quadruple gold medallist at “Hitler’s Olympics” at the same venue in 1936 – would have been proud of to race clear of the Hertha defence and score with aplomb.
Sven Michel’s evasion of the hosts’ defence and clinical left-foot finish six minutes from time was mere window dressing.
Come the end of hostilities, the Union players celebrated with their fans, while their vanquished opponents had the traditional face-off with their hard-core followers.
They were greeted by jeers and the occasional plastic beer tumbler.
A futile exercise the Old Firm, and any other derby combatants, need not copy.