Berlin (AFP)

A week before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Union Berlin won Saturday against Hertha (1-0) the first derby of the capital in the Bundesliga since reunification, after an interrupted match by distant hostilities between fans.

Sebastian Polter scored the only goal in the 87th minute penalty shoot-out.

The tradition of the "derby", this fierce opposition between two clubs of the same city, did not exist in Berlin. Supporters from both sides took the initiative to plant the seeds of a future rivalry.

Shortly before the fiftieth minute, the people's grandstand of the Union lit a forest of red Bengal lights, the colors of the club. This was the signal their Hertha counterparts were waiting for, in their parking on the opposite side of the stadium, to light theirs.

The terrain invaded by smoke, some fireworks launched on the ground: the referee interrupted the game more than six minutes. The stadium then chanted with rage slogans hostile to Hertha. A derby was born!

"To put it simply: it's the most important match of the season, more important than the league result," said a younger-looking "Unioner" before Kenny Schwarz.

And the historical symbol of the fall of the Wall? "I'm only 22, I obviously know the whole story, but for us today it must be said that it does not have much meaning," he says with a laugh.

- "Class struggle" -

Among the oldest, too, sports passion has taken over nostalgia. "All that, it's been a long time," says 56-year-old Andreas Rudolf, his greasy voice and a red and white Union scarf around his neck: "Today we are two different teams. Hostility I would not say, but we do not like them, the Blues ... "

Both clubs, however, have a common history of fraternity that dates back to the time of the division of the city.

The Union, founded in 1966 under the Communist GDR, was a modest team from East Berlin, but its forums were seen as a meeting place for opponents of the regime.

Hertha was and remains the big club in the western part of the city. Before the fall of the Wall, supporters of both sides tried to fraternize. And the clubs organized a historic friendly match in January 1990, two and a half months after the opening of the Berlin Wall, which was a huge party in Berlin.

"Traditionally our relationship is good, but this derby has been pinned by the Union, their president has talked about class struggle, I think it's a shame," said Rainer Kusel, a 71-year-old Hertha fan.

Since the German reunification, the two teams had already crossed into the second division at the beginning of the decade, but never before in the Bundesliga.

Saturday's match took place in the small stadium of the Union, the Alte Försterei ("Old Forest House") with 22,000 seats. The revenge is already scheduled for the weekend of March 21, in the huge Olympic Stadium Hertha to 75,000 seats.

© 2019 AFP