Hertha? HERTHA? Anyone home?: Hardly believable FC Schalke 04 goes completely berserk

Hertha BSC is aiming for promotion to the Bundesliga. How this will happen remains unclear in their season opener against Schalke. The visitors from the capital have had absolutely no chance against their strange Schalke eleven for at least 70 minutes.

Peter Remmert had breathed a sigh of relief from this game. For 60 minutes, the 20-year-old ran like there was no tomorrow. He had played the game of his life. Considering that he was only making his third appearance for the FC Schalke 04 first team, that's hardly a global sensation. And it remains true even after the 2-1 (2-0) victory against Hertha Berlin. But Peter Remmert had run his way into the hearts of so many in those 60 minutes at the start of the new 2. Bundesliga season.

The stadium erupted when he was substituted. And the loudest applause went to Miron Muslic. The new coach of the Royal Blues raised his hands high above his head and clapped his hands together loudly. The applause was for Remmert. And a little bit for himself, for he had surprisingly pulled the striker out of the pit.

You can find all the highlights of the game on RTL+

At Schalke, all hell broke loose on several occasions this Friday evening. The club, which had almost plunged into ruin last season, which was so close to becoming a third-division club, rose up. With a strength not seen in a long time. When the shift was over, when the players After a long period of dominating performance and a few anxious minutes before the final whistle, Schalke 04 sank to the turf, the arena erupted. The fans shouted their love for the players, and they responded with powerful gestures, clenched fists, passionate words, and jubilant arms. Was something great born this Friday evening? No one knows. But they didn't feel like holding back either. How long had it been since that happened? Schalke 04 went wild with joy.

Why does Schalke spend 700,000 euros on a coach?

Football is a strange sport sometimes. The perpetually cash-strapped club from Gelsenkirchen had achieved hardly anything in the transfer market this summer. Many players were gone, but only three new ones came in. Was that a signal for a new beginning? Then coach Muslic came along. Out of nowhere. Muslic. Never heard of him! Plymouth Argyle Football Club. Never heard of him either! Gaming nerds only know him from manager games. 700,000 Euro transfer fee. Crazy! How could the club, which has to turn every penny three times and eats coaches like a robot lawnmower eats summer clover , spend so much money on someone who will perhaps soon be forgotten as quickly as so many others before it?

Muslic doesn't care about any of that. He goes his own way. And he carries Schalke along with him. Muslic has an aura reminiscent of Sandro Wagner. Tall, strong, bearded, and extremely positive. A Duracell giant who runs along, lashes out, and delights in every duel won. Perhaps he's a much better fit for Gelsenkirchen-Erle than many people previously imagined. He's given Schalke, as the assessment of this Friday evening shows, a DNA they love here: running, sliding, toiling.

What a crazy starting eleven

And someone who embodies this completely is Peter Remmert. A name that doesn't (yet) sound like a Champions League player, but more like a tile-layer, like a hard worker. Like Schalke. He was in the starting eleven, along with the three new signings Nikola Katic, returning home and new captain Timo Becker, and Soufiane El-Faouzi. Muslic filled out the rest from his own reserves. A Felipe Sanchez suddenly appeared, someone his predecessor Kees van Wonderen couldn't and didn't want to deal with. And this eleven ran like crazy towards the Hertha fans, who watched it all with displeasure. As if someone had put a bowl of currywurst in front of them and told them it was invented here in Gelsenkirchen. But Herta Charlotte Heuwer, the West Berliner, claims that for herself.

After 16 minutes, Schalke fell apart for the first time. Remmert had been sent on a long run and fell in the penalty area. Penalty? Maybe. Not really. But Remmert only gave it a nanosecond's thought, sat down on his bottom, and slid the ball over to goalscorer and transfer candidate (because he promised a lot of money) Moussa Sylla, who took advantage of the open shot, 1-0. What a scene. It had taken the stadium a while to fully escalate - it had been served up to them. By Remmert, who twice later came close to building himself a monument. Twice, however, the ball went just wide of the goal. He did things you'd expect from one of the greatest players in the sport: Thomas Müller. He stalked around, threw himself into it, and performed wild moves with his body, like the butt assist. On this evening, anything was possible.

"He has a horse's shot, a super body"

And yet, this man out of nowhere drove the entire team crazy. "He runs 35 km/h, weighs 90 kilos, you can't knock him off his feet that easily. He's got a horse's kick, a superb body. He has tremendous potential to go far," enthused captain Becker, who also tells a great story. When Schalke were promoted a few years ago, they sent him away. He went to Kiel. They couldn't promise him playing time in the Bundesliga. Becker developed and has now returned. And he lives Schalke like few others.

They had already put all their energy into the Steigerlied before kickoff. The first Steigerlied of the season is always a very special one. Just as the miners once hoped for good coal, they hoped for good football at Schalke. But just as the coal disappeared, good football had long since left.

Were the years of pain now to be eased? New signing Katic added another. After 23 minutes, he headed in a corner to make it 2-0. Remmert was involved again. A free kick had led to the corner. Remmert had saved it. Schalke not only fought, they also played really good football. Schalke were drowning in happiness. No one could believe what they were seeing. Hertha coach Stefan Leitl gathered his team. He wanted to make sure they were awake.

"We saw how great it is to party here"

Physically, the Berlin team showed no signs of being wrong. But mentally, Hertha was simply not up to the gigantic task in front of a sold-out arena. Defensive leader Toni Leistner had been arguing beforehand, claiming Hertha was the favorite for promotion and wanted to prove it. They were almost entirely unsuccessful in the first 80 minutes. The Berlin team was chasing the ball and had great difficulty fending off their opponents' aggressiveness. And when they did have the ball, they had no idea what to do.

Schalke's ferocity was embodied, among others, by the new, little snob El-Faouzi, who unnerved the visitors just as much as the 20-year-old Vitale Becker. Whenever he made a sliding tackle, and he did so several times, he would then spur the crowd on. Hertha clearly didn't like Schalke's toughness. And yet it might have been enough to limit the damage. In the 89th minute, Sebastian Grönning reduced the deficit. The cross came from the left. Schalke youngster Taylan Bulut (also a potential sale candidate because he also promised a lot of money) had just been substituted on and wasn't quite up to par. He was overrun, and suddenly the score was 1-2. Schalke wobbled for a moment. Things got wild.

Talented Mercant Aydin kicked teammate Katic in the face. He fell to the ground, dazed, recovered after treatment, reached out to catch a cross, and was sent off with a second yellow card. Schalke fought, Hertha despaired. Fabian Reese's free kick flew into nothingness (97th minute). Muslic raised his fist. Victory was close, victory was there. The new coach couldn't hide his pride for a second afterward. "We promoted ourselves; it was a strong performance." However, he refused to accept any mention of a statement directed at the league rivals. "It was never about making a statement; it was about performance. We wanted to show the fans a new face after the weak years."

After the final whistle, Muslic was the first to go to the stands and celebrate. "I felt it," he said of the remarkable scene. "I had already seen the scene beforehand. Afterward, I went inside for a few minutes to collect myself." The fans immediately paid back. Used credit after dark years? Forgotten, forgiven. "That was incredible. I didn't know what to do with my emotions," said Becker. "We saw how awesome it is to celebrate here. I want to experience that more often."