DFB Cup commemoration of Kay Bernstein
The moving words of the Hertha goalkeeper after the cup exit
Status: 31.01.2024 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Hertha goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck made his first game for Hertha after the beating in the summer
What: REUTERS
The dream of the final in the Olympic Stadium at home has shattered. Hertha BSC loses in the quarter-finals against Kaiserslautern and is eliminated from the DFB Cup. After the game, thoughts are with the late President Kay Bernstein.
Things got emotional even before the quarter-final game in the DFB Cup kicked off. Hertha BSC fans remembered the late club president Kay Bernstein with a gigantic choreography. A photo of Bernstein, who died on January 16th at the age of just 43, was shown on the billboards – accompanied by a quote from him: “Let us have the courage to become better. If we take this to heart, we can look to a future in which we can all proudly wear the Hertha flag on our chests and feel part of the whole.”
Bernstein’s widow Eileen Bernstein-Rose sat in the stands and was visibly moved. Before the cup quarter-final against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, she addressed the fans directly and thanked them for their sympathy.
In memory of Kay Bernstein
Quelle: Getty Images/Maja Hitij
One of Bernstein’s big dreams was the cup final in the Olympic Stadium at home. But Hertha clearly lost the game against Kaiserslautern 1:3 and seemed inhibited for over 90 minutes. “We don’t need to sugarcoat anything. It was a day where we could have won. But it doesn’t work if you don’t score any goals. It may be that we dreamed too much about the finale. We were blocked in the first half, it was a hide-and-seek game for my team,” said Hertha coach Pal Dardai.
Gersbeck plays his first game after a beating in the summer training camp
Dardai surprised with his lineup. So he gave preference to Marius Gersbeck in goal over the actual regular goalkeeper Tjark Ernst. Gersbeck played in a competitive game for Hertha for the first time after returning to Berlin and being sentenced to a fine following a fight at the summer training camp in Austria. Bernstein also always stood up for the 28-year-old and gave him a second chance.
“We have a lot to thank Kay for. It hurts even more that we can’t look at the sky and tell him: We’ve progressed one round,’” said Gersbeck, visibly moved after the game.