Speaking on the pitch after his U19 team once again secured a place in the final of the German Championship, BVB coach Mike Tullberg found the perfect words: “Not many people thought we would have such a strong season. This is the preliminary coronation,” said the U19 coach, going on to add: “Now we want to rock the place on Sunday and get a win in Mainz.”

At the final whistle, the Black & Yellows had disappointment written on their faces, while the Hertha players couldn’t muster up any enthusiasm about their 1-0 win on the day, which served as scant consolation after their heavy defeat last week. ”It was the same last year, when we beat Schalke 5-1 in the semi-final first leg and then lost 1-0 in the second leg,” recalled BVB captain Nnamdi Collins, adding: “Defeats are always bad, you saw that with our initial reaction, but now we’re happy. We have our place in the final and we deserve it.”

The group enjoyed a small victory celebration in the dressing room. After all, the end result was an impressive 4-1 win. “We were up against a really good Hertha BSC team,” said Mike Tullberg, who was keen to emphasise the Berliners’ quality: “They scored an average of 3.6 goals per game in the Bundesliga, but only managed one against us in 180 minutes. I can only congratulate the boys and say hats off.” Nnamdi Collins added: “We had problems at the beginning, but afterwards we implemented our game plan well.”

But Hertha BSC are already in the rear-view mirror, now the attention towards Mainz, where the final will kick off at 11:00 CET on Sunday at the Stadion am Bruchweg (Sky are broadcasting the match live). Mike Tullberg has given his players two days off to regenerate before starting preparations on Wednesday in advance of facing a side who the coach deems every bit as strong as Hertha BSC: “They are a very confident, mature team that play a lot of long balls and practice an extreme form of counter-pressing. Mainz have had their sights set on the German Championship title since the very beginning of the season.”

The Rhine-Hessians won the Bundesliga South title with 38 points, finishing far in front of hotly-tipped sides like VfB Stuttgart, SC Freiburg, TSG Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich. The team’s showpiece is their strikeforce, which is led by Nelson Weiper, who has already made six appearances for the senior team in the Bundesliga. Their top goalscorers are Dennis Kaygin (14), Brajan Gruda (8) and Lous Bierschenk (8), who is also a member of the first-team squad.

BVB looking for ”heart and passion”

In their semi-final clash with 1. FC Köln, Mainz followed up a 1-0 first-leg win with a 0-0 draw in the second leg – it goes without saying that their defence was rock solid. “We have boys in the team who have been with us at Mainz 05 since U8 or U9 level. The fact that they and the coaches working with them can now experience this U19 final is incredible and sensational,” said coach Benjamin Hoffmann, who previously led BVB’s youth teams to the final on three occasions: in 2016, his U17 team lost 2-0 to a Kai Havertz-inspired Bayer Leverkusen side. Hoffmann then led the Black & Yellow U19s to German Championship wins in 2017 (beating Bayern Munich in the final) and 2019 (against VfB Stuttgart).

The respect for Mainz is great, but Borussia’s confidence in their own abilities is even greater. “We don’t need to hide,” said Mike Tullberg, who then evoked BVB’s team spirit: “The opposition may have better individual quality, but our quality is heart and passion. We can defend with commitment. We will once again give it our all in order to win the game.”

If they do so, they will also write themselves into the history books. Since the founding of the youth Bundesliga, no club has ever managed to win three straight titles. (wiwi)