It was going to take something to be heard through the cacophony, to guide the way through the fog that sporadically impaired vision of proceedings, and to cut a tension that was quite unusual in the context of Berlin’s football. In a global city where football doesn’t often take centre stage, it needed something or someone to seize the moment. Sebastian Polter was ready.
In this first top-flight meeting between Berlin’s two most prominent clubs, Union and Hertha, where nerves crackled and fireworks fizzed, the football had been fractious in the Bundesliga new boys’ atmospheric, old-school home, rebuilt by the club’s supporters and still harbouring a manual scoreboard in the corner. From the moment the 28-year-old Polter came on to replace Sebastian Andersson for the last 15 minutes, leaning into the field in anticipation as he waited for his chance, he was determined to make this his moment.
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