🇩🇪 Berlin isn't poor but sexy, it's poor and sexy | OneFootball

It’s 20 years since then-mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, famously dubbed the city “poor but sexy” and it stuck.

Just a couple of weeks ago, two decades on, Wowereit responded to how the city had changed. “Black but dazzling” was the new theme he bestowed upon the German capital. But it really depends who you ask.

Football fans in Berlin’s west, supporters of Hertha, would have to admit things are “poor” for them right now — both on the pitch and in the financial sense — and the colour black would be fitting dress next weekend as they welcome Bochum to the Olympiastadion with relegation now likely to be confirmed.

A 5-2 defeat to Köln on Friday left Hertha on the brink of relegation, with the Old Lady of German football now requiring two wins from their last two games to stay up.

And it could even be a double dose of demotion, as the club, in financial trouble, have the DFL reportedly weighing up whether or not to award them a playing licence for next season, the need to repay a €40m bond by November and fears the new involvement of 777 Partners could come into conflict with German football’s 50+1 rule.

Dark days indeed.

But head to the east, to the home of Union Berlin, and both “sexy” and “dazzling” would be a pretty good fit for how fans feel about their sides’ fortunes right now.

After Friday’s 5-2 defeat to Köln left Hertha on the brink of relegation, attention in the German capital turned to Union on Saturday.

With top four rivals SC Freiburg arriving at the Alte Försterei level on points with the hosts with three games left to play, this was as six-pointer as it gets.

Union blew die Breisgauer away to claim a 3-0 lead before the break. Sheraldo Becker was exceptional, creating Kevin Behrens’ opener before scoring twice (and receiving a yellow card for donning a Spider-Man mask after his first) as the man certain to be named Union’s player of the season turned up when they most needed him to.

Freiburg mounted a comeback after the break, scoring twice to set up a nervy finish, before Becker raced away on the break to lay a fourth and final Union goal on a plate for substitute Aïssa Laïddouni.

It was Behrens, the big, bruising striker and scorer of the opener, who took the initiative to blast the Champions League anthem in the dressing room at full-time.

With Hertha, financially ailing and now needing six points to retain top flight status, almost certain to go down, Union require just one win from their last two games to all but guarantee that famous anthem will be blasting out for real at the Alte Försterei next season, not just in the dressing room.

Poor, sexy, black, dazzling. Berlin can offer the whole lot.