Reese, internet star, drama: Hertha BSC’s “gigantic” cup evening

Six goals in regular time, the decision is only made in the penalty shootout: Hertha BSC and HSV have a memorable duel in the DFB Cup round of 16. In the end, one person in particular stands out: Fabian Reese.

How quickly the world can change: just a few weeks ago, very few people would have thought that they would find a declaration of love for football at Hertha BSC. After (roughly estimated) 374 million negative headlines, the Berlin football club was relegated from the Bundesliga last summer. The squad was falling apart and there was a huge hole in the finances. In the worst case scenario, there was even a threat of the end of professional football in Berlin’s Westend.

What happened on Wednesday evening in the Berlin Olympic Stadium is all the more astonishing. In a wild round of 16 game in the DFB Cup, the Berliners beat HSV 3:3 (2:2, 1:2) nV, 5:3 aE. And then Hertha’s Fabian Reese stood in the catacombs and couldn’t stop raving. The 26-year-old scored the decisive penalty and was probably the outstanding protagonist of a cup evening.

“I think that’s why we love football,” said Reese, who never took his eyes off the game ball. “That’s what we work for every day, that’s what we live for to a certain extent – for these emotions, to be there in such places, in such moments and to be able to experience that.” He will tell his children about it one day. It was “a gigantic evening”. “And I think something very special was created in the team tonight too.”

HSV countered with a double strike

The declaration of love was the result of an evening of football that only a knockout competition can produce. Floodlights and an almost full house: 58,946 people in the stands of the Berlin Olympic Stadium saw a thrilling game, also because they heated up the players on the pitch in temperatures around zero. HSV contributed more than 20,000 traveling fans to an impressive background noise.

A wild spectacle took place on the lawn. HSV had a lot of possession at the beginning, but posed little danger and had one problem in particular: that Hertha’s Reese, according to coach Dardai, was constantly “tearing his side apart”. In the 21st minute he fueled himself, his pass to Florian Niederlechner somehow came back to him and he pushed the ball into the goal after a one-two with the HSV post.

But before the break, Tim Walter’s team hit back – and twice: first very worth seeing with a long-range shot from Immanuël Pherai (31′) and then less worth seeing thanks to László Bénes (43′). The Berliners struggled in the second half, but couldn’t find the goal. Until the end of regular time: Reese of course equalized at the last second (90th).

But that was only the first part of the drama: In extra time, HSV took the lead again (102′). In the 120th minute, the man who captain Toni Leistner described as the height of madness struck again: Fabian Reese. Again it’s the last seconds of the game. This time he found Jonjoe Kenny, who had been a perpetual relegated player until this season, but who suddenly not only pushed the ball over the line, but was also a building block of an amazing Berlin team. Meanwhile, the cup fight culminated in a penalty shootout.

Leistner is “extremely proud”

Even the boldest optimists probably had no idea a few months ago that it would come to this. In mid-August, Hamburg had badly beaten Hertha in the league. At the time, coach Pal Dardai described the 3-0 away defeat as a “class difference”; his team was inferior in all respects. Three and a half months later, however, there is no longer any sign of this. It is proof “that we have developed extremely further,” said Captain Leistner. “That makes me extremely proud.”

After all, there was a different team on the pitch on Wednesday evening. Not one that was very unsettled after numerous departures, but one that has now been unbeaten for seven games. And above all one that now produces many small heroic stories. Be it Haris Tabakovic, affectionately nicknamed “Fluppe” by the fans, who until recently scored goals like he was on an assembly line. 20-year-old goalkeeper Tjark Ernst, who saved a shot in the penalty shootout. Or Niederlechner, who hasn’t met at all for a long time and now happens very often. It’s these little stories that ultimately give football meaning. They show that something is being created.

This was joined by the latest heroic epic: Nader El-Jindaoui, the 27-year-old internet star who finally made his professional debut. Even after the game he “didn’t really realize it yet,” he said. “I’ve fought for this all my life and today was the day,” he explained. “And the fact that we got through one round was the cherry on the cake. It was just an indescribable feeling.” In the penalty shootout he converted his shot. Before the penalty shootout, his remarkable shift in the game was found by Reese, who, in conjunction with Kenny, did the rest.

“If you google me, it says ‘footballer'”

El-Jindaoui moved from Berliner AK to Hertha’s second team in the summer of 2022. The transfer caused a stir; more than 1.7 million people follow him on YouTube, where he talks about his everyday life. “Even if some people like to say I’m an influencer: I’m a footballer and I share a little bit of my life,” he said. “If you google me, it says ‘footballer’ and that’s how I feel. And I hope I was able to prove it today.”

He had done this and established a new reputation as an oracle. The evening before, he shared a little story with his followers on social media. The family man showed his wife, his child was already in bed. “Now dinner and tomorrow maybe a DFB Cup game,” he wrote: “Inshallah, I’m in the squad and we’ll advance to the next round.” That happened. The Berlin Way proclaimed by President Kay Bernstein, who was crouching in the stands watching the game, had already opened up a new path.

All of these stories seemed almost unimaginable just weeks ago. After a poor start to the season, Hertha is now in eighth place in the league. The current season is supposed to be a transition year after the big squad shake-up. It also gives an indication of who could be pillars in the coming years. First and foremost, of course, Reese, whose recipe for success is “hard work, coupled with a lot of trust from the club, a certain flow, a bit of luck and fun at work”. After the round of 16 success, his captain named him “currently the best player in the second division”.

Will Reese even become a national player now?

“We can always use him: his power, his speed, his assists,” said Leistner, who was initially met with hostility in Berlin because of his past at Union Berlin and who, with every new scar on his face, is more likely to arrive at the other end of the city. He also managed to do that against HSV. Anew. In the league game against the diamonds he broke his nose, this time it was enough for a laceration.

So many heroic stories and at the top, Reese, the former Kieler who embodies the image of the new Hertha, beamed. Everything can change. But not that night. Just a cup. And anyway: The Hungarian on the sidelines, the eternal Pal Dardai, who no longer cares about a sporting figure, but continues to give everything for Hertha in his third term in office, did not want to see the victory as a hero’s show: “You could say it was that “It’s not a Fabian show,” he clarified. “We invested so much and were rewarded. It was a great evening.”

And Reese probably still has work to do. He should throw more effort into the defense and be even more focused. “I will practice with him until he is finally a national player,” promises Dardai. But it will probably take a while until then. Although anything seemed possible that evening in the Olympic Stadium, and that was more than anyone at Hertha would have dared to dream in August. That was football. For that brief moment, the second division team was once again the most successful club in the city.