Andreas Luthe has a special game coming up on Saturday. The goalkeeper of 1. FC Union Berlin will play for VfL Bochum, the club where he started his professional career in 2009.
If it’s up to Andreas Luthe, Urs Fischer has nothing to worry about. The mental disposition of his number 1 goalkeeper will give the Union Berlin coach no cause for complaint on Saturday. His focus will naturally be on the game, said Luthe on Thursday during a media round, and so he will also “not sing along at the top of his voice” before the Eisern’s performance against VfL Bochum, when Herbert Grönemeyer’s anthem “Bochum” is traditionally played in the Ruhrstadion to set the mood. But, adds the Berlin keeper, “that you’re happy inside when you hear the song before the game will be 100 per cent like that.”
After all, the match is “very special” for the 34-year-old, as he says. “When I was 6 or 7, I saw my first game in the stadium at VfL,” says Luthe, who was born in Velbert, just under 30 kilometres southwest of Bochum. And at the age of 14, the keeper joined VfL from Borussia Velbert in 2001, found his way into the professional team and played for the club from the Ruhr region for a total of 15 years before moving to FC Augsburg in 2016. That’s why Luthe is “full of anticipation” about the reunion with “my club”, as he calls VfL. Especially since “this is also my first visit to the Ruhrstadion since my transfer,” adds the goalkeeper.
We will be facing a team that has found their way of playing in the Bundesliga.
Luthe expects Union to face another tricky task at Castroper Straße at the end of the Bundesliga first round. “We will meet a team that has built up confidence in recent weeks, that has found its way of playing in the Bundesliga, that can be successful and that is very strong, especially at home. I think they will demand everything from us.” Surprised by VfL’s performance so far this season, Luthe said. “I’m pleased because I can appreciate how difficult it is as a promoted team to cope in the Bundesliga. I’m pleased that they were able to take their momentum with them a little bit and their carefree attitude. They haven’t retreated from their style of play, they’re doing it. The fact that they are doing so well now is highly respectable.”
The achievements of 1. FC Union are also respectable. And they have been doing so since promotion. In 2021, however, the Köpenickers have once again drawn particular attention to themselves. Luthe calls his personal 2021 a “beautiful, successful and also exhausting year. If you look at the points average, it’s something that people perhaps didn’t think Union would achieve. And I was able to make my contribution. I’m very proud of that. That was one of my most successful years. “
I was asked how many tickets I needed and I said ‘all of them’.
He wants to bring that to a successful conclusion in Bochum on Saturday. Before that, however, Luthe has to make sure he can fulfil as many ticket requests as possible from family and friends. “I was asked how many tickets I needed and I said ‘all of them’,” says Luthe with a grin, “but that won’t be possible. I hope I can get a few tickets and maybe take my family to the stadium. Then I would be happy.” Likewise about a victory for 1. FC Union.
