Hertha lose city derby to Darida, fans confront players

Hertha Berlin, with Vladimir Darida in the line-up, lost 1:4 to Union in the Berlin derby on Saturday night. For the home team this means the penultimate place in the table. In addition to this, the Hertha fans urged the players to take an unexpected step after the game.

After the match, the home fans were supposed to force the Hertha players to come over and take off their jerseys. They said that because of what they were doing on the pitch, they were not worthy of wearing them.

“I heard from the cauldron that we should take off our jerseys,” Hertha’s Maximilian Mittelstädt told Sport.cz. He added that his team’s performance in Saturday’s game was inexplicable.

Goalkeeper Marcel Lotka revealed that it was on Mittelstädt’s instruction that the players should have taken off their jerseys. “The fans wanted it. I did it out of respect for them,” said Lotka, who is playing his first season in the Bundesliga.

Lothar Matthäus, a Sky TV expert, added that the fans may have gone too far. “Wearing the jersey is a matter of pride. I understand the frustration. But it’s sport and it can happen, there’s no need to deal with everything like this.”

“I understand that the fans are disappointed, but their anger doesn’t help us.” He did not reveal how he would have acted if he had stood in front of the fans as a player.

In any case, Hertha are headed for serious trouble in the fight for salvation. However, they still have games against direct rivals Augsburg, Stuttgart and Bielefeld on the schedule. If Hertha can get through these important games, they could retain the top flight.

Sources:: Sport.cz, Twitter Hertha Berlin