Germany great, Jurgen Klinsmann, says he feels wonderful returning to coach in the Bundesliga , this time as Hertha Berlin manager following his previous 10-month stint at Bayern Munich from 1 July 2008 to 27 April 2009.
He replaced Ante Covic as Hertha Berlin manager on Wednesday last week but lost his first match 2-1 at home to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. But the defeat has not dulled Klinsmann’s great feeling about returning to manage a Bundesliga side.
“It was a wonderful feeling, being back, being back in our capital, Berlin, was something special,” Klinsmann who was first appointed to Hertha’s supervisory board before the manager job opportunity told bundesliga.com after the match against Dortmund at the Olympiastadion.
“The Bundesliga is a wonderful league, it’s very, very competitive. I’m a competitor. So, when I go into and adventure, I will give everything I have and put all the work in.”
Hertha Berlin chased the game gallantly on Saturday but lost it. Dortmund went into 2-0 lead through goals from Jadon Sancho and Thorgan Hazard in the 15th and 17th minutes respectively. Vladimir Darida halved the deficit for Hertha in the 34th. Then Davie Selke had a goal ruled out for offside.
“Obviously we wanted more and we had the feeling that if we could make it 2-2, we could go on and win the game,” Klinsmann said of the match..
“The effort was there, the team put everything into it, it was a very, very good performance. We fought back to make it 2-1, and you saw in the second half how Dortmund had to defend being a man down in the second half. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the most of the pressure we put them under. It hurts that we didn’t get at least a point from the game, but I’m happy overall. The boys did everything I asked of them.”
Karim Rekik who replaced Lukas Klünter in the defence line over ill-health is optimistic that Hertha Berlin’s fortunes will improve under Klinsmann.
“He’s a very professional guy. Of course, he was a great player, so he has all the respect of the players. I think that’s very important. He’s serious in the things that he does, he’s very [focussed], so we can learn a lot from him,” Rekik told bundesliga.com. ”
Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus is also happy to see Klinsmann return to the Bundesliga.
“I’m happy that Jurgen is back. Of course, it will take some time, it’s difficult for a new coach to change everything in just a few days,” Reus told bundesliga.com.
“For us [Dortmund] it was also extremely difficult because we did not know what he was going to do. I think we will get to know his philosophy in the coming weeks.”
