The situation at FC Bayern had eased before the game in Berlin, which could also be seen from the fact that Luci and Upa did not report an alarm, from which Benji and Josh immediately benefited. Yes, that’s what the players of the Munich record champions are called now. The honorary chairman Uli Hoeneß may have been “surprised” during the week about the great “maturity” with which the still only 34-year-old coach Julian Nagelsmann acts on Säbener Straße. But when it comes to his “boys”, Nagelsmann’s trivialization knows no bounds, and one can definitely rule out that the Bavarian gstanzl “Don’t call me bunny in public anymore” is part of his training philosophy.
“If Luci and Upa don’t signal anymore, Benji will move back to the right” – that was one of Nagelsmann’s tactical announcements on Friday, and that’s how it happened, at least something like that: Lucas “Luci” Hernández returned to Hertha BSC in Sunday’s game returned to the defensive line after surviving the corona infection, Benjamin “Benji” Pavard was allowed to move to the right again, and Joshua “Josh” Kimmich was able to take his favorite place in central midfield. Although Dayot “Upa” Upamecano initially stayed on the bench, Nagelsmann switched to a back three with Niklas Süle in the center, so the castling worked.
Leroy Sané and Kingsley Coman also played from the beginning for the first time since their corona infection. So Bayern are getting closer to their happy normal state again – and the rest of the league has to suffer, in this case the capital city Hertha, which is already suffering a lot.
Goals from Corentin Tolisso (2nd minute, offside) and Leroy Sané (89th, handball) were canceled by the video court – as a kind of background story of the evening. But in the end, the leaders from Munich scored an easy 4-1 win, which froze the gap to Borussia Dortmund at six points. And even if Tolli, Mülli, Sanni and Serdschi did not score the goals in the Bundesliga statistics, but Tolisso, Thomas Müller, Sané and Serge Gnabry, Nagelsmann was satisfied. He even called the first half “the best of the season”, so “concentrate us sharply in counter-pressing” his Bavarians would have acted. And the lads were happy too: “We squeezed Berlin in from the start and didn’t let anything get in the way. That was an absolutely wonderful day of football,” said Thomas Müller.
The organized fan scene “visits” Hertha during training
At Hertha, the situation had been anything but relaxed beforehand, which could be seen from the police operation that was necessary at the training ground on Friday. A non-public unit was actually on the program – according to eyewitnesses who willingly shared their mobile phone films with the Berlin media, the almost 100 members of the organized fan scene didn’t even come by to watch. On the training pitch, some of them confronted the pros. As the sirens approached, they took to their heels, or as the club put it: “They left the grounds in an orderly manner, having conveyed their message to the team.”
The concrete reason for the frightening action was probably the cup defeat during the week against city rivals Union, the deeper reason was the bloodless performances of the past few weeks. But the list of setbacks would have been fuller even without the threatening gestures: striker Davie Selke had to go into isolation after a positive test on the day of the game, the ailing Niklas Stark and Jordan Torunarigha were not in the squad. The only 17-year-old Linus Gechter made his debut in the Bundesliga. Although the word “celebrate” is at best an empty phrase here, the evening was above all hard work.
At least one consolation goal: Jürgen Ekkelenkamp (left) saved Hertha BSC a zero against FC Bayern and Robert Lewandowski.
(Photo: Sebastian Räppold/imago)
The Berliners managed to make a few attacks, for example in the 52nd minute when Ishak Belfodil asserted himself in midfield and the ball then passed through Maximilian Mittelstädt to Vladimir Darida sliding up. But Hertha’s director steered him past the post. And when Hertha managed to make a few surprising transitions, Manuel (Nagelsmann: “the Manu”) Neuer usually intercepted the passes. In any case, the announcement by coach Tayfun Korkut that they wanted to “hurt Bayern with our way” didn’t work out. In order to inflict serious pain on the people of Munich, the way is currently not sufficient, not only for the Berliners.
Only Upamecano fails a back pass
Consistently poisonous pressing, plus this attacking game refined by Nagelsmann, in which the ball always finds its way quickly but methodically to the opposing goal – not much more is needed against opponents like Hertha.
Once Tolisso stopped his head (25th), once Müller his foot after a free kick (45th), and when Hertha goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow missed a pass to the poor defensive teen Gechter, Sané sprinted in between – 3: 0 (75th). Then a nice pass from Kimmich into Gnabry’s run – 4:0 (79th). In the end, the Berliners had to pull themselves together in order not to overstep the line of disgrace, which was also possible because Bayern defender “Upa” Upamecano, who came on late as a substitute, grotesquely missed a back pass, whereupon Jürgen Ekkelenkamp reduced the deficit to 1:4 (80th). Now you have to see, said Tayfun Korkut, “that we can get the week over with quickly and concentrate on the next games and weeks”.
After all, the Berliners remained their gallows humor. “At least the weather is good,” said the stadium announcer, “… ah, nope.” The weather wasn’t all that bad.
