“He gave me a free hand”: “Coach” Boateng directs and saves Herta

In the relegation first leg, Kevin-Prince Boateng has to watch from the bench as his team scramble towards relegation. In the return leg in Hamburg, he stopped the drama. As whispers to coach Felix Magath as a passionate leader. After landing distribute a lot of compliments.

Kevin-Prince Boateng had another boss on Tuesday night: Niklas Stark and his taste in music. The outgoing Hertha defender wanted to charm the alleged DJ on the bus on the way back to Berlin to play a few hits. said the 27-year-old, who has spent the past seven years at Hertha BSC and is now moving to a hitherto unknown club. He advanced after staying, which the Berlin players showed thanks to 2-0 (1-0) in the second leg of the relegation to Hamburg.

More will than in the first leg, tougher duels, more attendance, that’s how Hertha frustrated HSV and justifiably kept the class. “DJ Prince” had a big role in that. He said metaphorically after the win, “I asked the players before the game if they were hungry. They all said they were hungry. I said let’s go out and eat. We ate.”

Boateng was on the bench for 90 minutes after the 1-0 defeat in the first leg at the Berlin Olympic Stadium, but coach Felix Magath relied on his old foot in the second leg. “Prince is one last player. He knows how it goes. The team needs him now for the final,” he said beforehand – and he was right. The original Berliner, whose return to Berlin was mainly related to his mentality and relationship to the club, was the “aggressive leader” on the pitch, driver and mentor. He kept pointing with his teammates off the ball, talking to Isaac Belvodel and Stefan Jovic after a good half hour during Mario Voskovic’s treatment break – and his passing rate was 87 percent. The two heel tricks in the middle circle under the most pressure in the second half, when HSV increasingly tried again to avoid a lack of promotion, brought him applause from the scene. Of course only from the curve of Hertha fans.

Thank God I listened to him.

And his leadership was not only tolerated, but highly desirable. “The team delivered,” Magat said after the match. “Thank God, I listened to him.” Boateng explained it in more detail: “Today he gave me the freedom to act. He asked me: ‘Who do you think best, where and in what situation?'” “We did a great job together, getting a team on the pitch that was strong in football and fighting.” The praise for the coach, who only took charge of the squad on March 13 – as the third coach of the season – was in return: “It was clear from the start, he’s a special guy, I’m a special guy, you can either clash completely or get along very well. We deal Brilliant.” Boateng didn’t want to hear reports of a feud between the two, it was an eye-level discussion.

And so Boateng played in the most important game of the year, until he got a special farewell in the 90th minute: Hertha’s tumultuous curve celebrated him, who raised him even more with his big arm movements, and was shouted loudly by the rest of the players. Playground. He had to spend six long minutes of injury time on the bench before referee Deniz Aitekin called off the match, and the 35-year-old, unlike most Hertha players, did not run into the corner immediately, but fell first on the field. . When he then joined the celebration crowd, guard Oliver Christensen, who celebrated with the greatest fervor, greeted him with a strong signal and a primal scream.

“I love this young man”

A little later, the sporting director, Freddy Bobic, hugged him tightly and for a long time. The two had known each other since Hertha’s earlier years, when a young Boateng slowly matured into a professional and the career of Bobic, who was 16 years his senior, was about to come to an end. A longtime acquaintance, even a “super relationship”, as Boateng calls it, which could now become important again. Because Boateng’s contract expires. “I still feel like it, I’m in a good mood, even if you don’t always see him. But today the prince is back, when it matters, I’ll be back. You can also write that, he said to the midfielder: ‘The prince is back.’ And when I stop, you can You write, “The Prince is gone again.” “You may now have conversations in peace.”

In general, Boateng needs to speak: “We have to learn a lot. We have to bring calm to the club. We have to become a family again, as it was today. This is Hertha BSC.”

Hertha BSC is also Marvin Plattenhardt. Boateng describes him as “one of the best players in the Bundesliga”. Stark became even more emotional: “I love that guy,” he said with a smile. “He’s still the game winner today – two goals, one and a half…” The left-back has been at the club since 2014, having matured into a temporary international in Berlin and is usually famous for his dangerous cross passes. That evening in Hamburg went further. After just four minutes, Platnhard made it 1-0, and captain Diederik Boyata headed home his kick with a powerful header.

The 2-0 score in the 63rd minute was a shot on Sunday by the 30-year-old that was totally worth watching. Platthardt set up a free kick on the right sideline, and his shot went perfectly in an arc around HSV goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes to the far corner, turning straight. Suddenly Herta is saved. “This was exactly what we needed,” Boateng commented. “We wouldn’t have won today without Marvin Platnhardt,” Magath said.

“Everyone thinks I’m like a party mouse.”

The outgoing coach, who will once again leave in Berlin, had one goal: to stay in the league. He explained it with the incredible turn of nerves by descending: “Of course I’m very happy. We were much happier today and so I’m really happy that I did it for Herta.”

For Herta, for the fans who sang tirelessly, they jumped and swung their scarves in the crowded Volkspark and could be heard well despite the overwhelming majority of HSV fans. Of course also for Boateng, who carries Hertha’s DNA. And he is, for Magat, more than just a passionate leader. Good for the club that the coach listened to his professionalism. So there’s still something to celebrate at the end of an sometimes disastrous season. “It’s the end of the season as if we were champions,” said Boateng.

That’s why he doesn’t want to celebrate a big party, there is only “one or three beers”. He said, “Everyone thinks I’m a party girl. Just to come home. I have to relax, it’s been a tough year.” However, he wouldn’t escape Stark’s musical desires for “Many Times Helen (Fischer, editor’s note)” on the bus.