On Saturday afternoon, Hertha BSC will host Eintracht Frankfurt. For sporting director Fredi Bobic, this means a return to the old stomping ground. Kevin-Prince Boateng also faces a special match.
“Yes, I’m looking forward to it,” said veteran Boateng on Tuesday afternoon after training as part of a media round and added: “I hope I’ll get a good reception.” The most prominent Hertha addition of the past summer can probably be sure of that. After all, the 34-year-old not only played 36 competitive games (six goals) in his one year in Frankfurt – the 2017/18 season – but also played a key role in Eintracht becoming DFB Cup winners by beating FC Bayern München 3-1 in the Berlin final, bringing a title back to the Main after 30 years.
“This is a game we have to win. “
KEVIN-PRINCE BOATENG
As special as the match is personally for the returnee in the Hertha kit, it is also important for coach Pal Dardai’s team. “It’s a game we have to win,” says Boateng, and that’s why the personal contact with the people he still knows has to rest for 90 minutes. “We can hug before the game and after the game,” Boateng clarifies. In between, he adds, “there will be no friends”. Boateng is clear about what awaits Hertha in Frankfurt. “You have to be prepared that there will be contact, that it will hurt,” the midfielder says of coach Oliver Glasner’s team. Completely, he said, as Frankfurt would have a tailwind after their 2-1 win in Munich ten days ago. “That can push you through the season,” adds Boateng. For Hertha, it is important to “go there with a broad chest”, which does not seem so easy in the current situation. Pressure is there, Boateng knows that too. But he also says: “It is an important game, but not the most important game of the season.
Netheless, it would be beneficial for the overall situation in Berlin if Hertha did not come away empty-handed in Frankfurt. “We are in a difficult situation,” Boateng knows, “but that’s when you have the opportunity to grow from it. You don’t grow from games you win or situations that are easy. You grow from things that are difficult or defeats. That’s what we try to do. “
Boateng finds Matthäus criticism “cheeky “
Boateng himself says he thinks day and night about how the situation can be improved and sees himself 100 per cent accepted in the role chosen for him as leader of the team. “I have full backing from the team. That is very important to me.”
Boateng is indifferent to the fact that there have been critical comments about his performances on the green pitch so far (one cup appearance, plus five league appearances, four of them in the starting eleven, kicker grade average 4.50). “I’ve been criticised more than praised in my career,” he clarifies, “that bounces off me.” Hertha’s number 27, however, was annoyed by the recent criticism from Lothar Matthäus. “To say after seven matchdays that a player’s time is up is cheeky,” Boateng says of the record-breaking international and Sky pundit’s comments after the match against Freiburg, “but maybe he wanted to get a headline. That’s what he got. Everything has been said about that. “
Leader is no longer a “25-year-old Prince Boateng “
Boateng certainly lives in the knowledge that he has not shone after returning to his hometown club. “I may not be playing particularly well, I realise that,” he says. He looks in the mirror every day, says the ex-Ghana international, and asks himself: “What can I do better?” At the same time, Boateng also points out the premise under which he returned to Hertha. “You have to understand one thing: I didn’t come here as a 25-year-old Prince Boateng who wins every game on his own and makes a goal and an assist each time. I knew that before, the club knew that before,” he stresses, adding, “Maybe I won’t play a game over 90 minutes this season, maybe I’ll play the next ten games over 90 minutes. It depends on the situation, it also depends on the game. I didn’t come here to be Messi or Ronaldo. “
