Luis Hartwig will not be around at Castroper Straße in the 2022/23 season, the homegrown player...

FC Managing Director, Christian Keller said: “Mark and his qualities going forward make him a player that can make the difference. On the way to European qualification, Mark was a key player and a leader. We are convinced that he will be just that once he returns from injury. Therefore, we are really looking forward to seeing him back on the pitch again soon and that he will be staying in Köln past summer.”

Having recently faced off against his former team Bayer Leverkusen, Bastian Oczipka prepares to do battle with another ex-club on Sunday (15/12). The left-back joined the Royal Blues from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of 2017. “Of course, it’s no ordinary game for me,” says the 30-year-old.

“We’ve got a lot of young players with potential in our squad and we wanted to get an experienced man in our midfield, especially now Niklas Dorsch is ruled out injured for a long time. Julian will help our team both on and off the pitch with his sporting quality, his mentality, his character and his experience,” said Stefan Reuter, FCA sporting director.

“We had imagined that differently, that we would hold up better there,” Thomas Müller explained afterward (via kicker).

Jesper Lindström: “If you look at the whole game, Gladbach weren’t bad in the second half either. But we took our chances and that’s what football is all about. If you put away your first opportunity, of course it’s going to make things easier. We did that well today. I have to share the praise [from Sky pundit Lothar Matthäus] with my team-mates: Kolo is incredibly important for me because we complement each other well and are both fast, but Daichi [Kamada] and Rafa [Borré] also help me time and time again. That was already the case last season, but this term we have even more options. Mario [Götze] and Seppl Rode are also extremely important for us.”

There was some bad news for SC Freiburg the day before the game, as Daniel Kofi-Kyereh, who twisted his knee in training on Thursday, was diagnosed with having torn his cruciate ligament, ruling the midfielder out for the rest of the season. All the best with your recovery, Kofi! 

As a rule, games against former employers are something special for all those involved, especially if it is for the first time. Sandro Schwarz is no exception here. Hertha’s head coach, who has been in charge of the club since the summer, will meet 1. FSV Mainz 05 for the first time as Hertha head coach this Friday evening (16.09.22, 20:30 CEST). Mainz is not only a club he played for, but also where, from 2013 to 2019, the 43-year-old worked his way up from the U19 team, to the second team, before managing the first team side. “I have a lot to thank the club for; it was a very intense time – both as a player and as a coach,” the coach makes no secret of his relationship to the Zerofivers. As well as the head coach, both Jean-Paul Boëtius and Suat Serdar come up against their former sides. Despite these many connections, the Blue-Whites are not going to Mainz just to catch up with old friends. “Mainz compete hard and are a very physical side – it shows that they are a very good Bundesliga side and are difficult to work out how to play against. It will be a very interesting game,” emphasised Fredi Bobic. herthabsc.com has summarised the key points. Schwarz and Bobic spoke about…

In May 2009, Germany won the U17 European Championship. Just over 13 years later, only two members of that triumphant squad remain under contract in the Bundesliga: World Cup winner Mario Götze, currently at Eintracht Frankfurt, and Hertha’s captain, Marvin Plattenhardt. Despite only being named captain in July, ‘Platte’ has had the development of his squad and teammates on his mind from day one. “There’s been a real swing of momentum which you can feel, and everybody has been taken by it. The support we’ve been getting from outside is palpable, and the fans are right behind us – that’s a great feeling for us all to have,” explained the 30-year-old. The seven-time Germany international also feels the trust placed in him when he wears the captain’s armband: “It’s a huge honour for me to lead the team out onto the pitch every week. I’ve always said that I see myself in the role of captain, but now it’s all about growing into it bit by bit over time,” said Hertha’s number 21. Plattenhardt sat down with herthabsc.com to chat about his magical left foot, the upcoming trip to Mainz and an eventful summer.