Jovetic and Korkut praise Selke after long-awaited goal
There may not have been a more relieved man in Berlin than Davie Selke at 17.40 on Saturday afternoon.
The man who found his match tricot thrown back at him by his own ultras in the Berlin derby three weeks ago got a chance to send a small number of them a salute after finally breaking his 2021/22 Bundesliga duck in Hertha's 2-0 win.
New Hertha head-coach Tayfun Korkut praised Selke and the rest of his substitutes after the big win.
After 804 scoreless Bundesliga minutes, Davie Selke finally has his first Bundesliga goal back in Hertha colors since November 2019. After sprinting around to salute the bench and wave to the small number of supporters allowed in to watch the match live, he sunk to his knees to in pure relief.
The man who found his match tricot thrown back at him by his own ultras in the Berlin derby three weeks ago got a chance to send a small number of them a salute after finally breaking his 2021/22 Bundesliga duck in Hertha's 2-0 win.
New Hertha head-coach Tayfun Korkut praised Selke and the rest of his substitutes after the big win.
Selke last scored a Bundesliga goal for loan club Werder Bremen last January. The former German youth international and Olympic representative's loan 18-month-loan to the Hanseatic city state proved something of a disaster. Then Werder trainer Florian Kohfeldt hardly ever considered him worthy of a place in the staring XI.
He scored just three goals away on loan at the club where he began his career. When Werder were relegated, the obligatory purchase clause Hertha had built into his loan deal got nixed and he landed back in the capital city.
Surprisingly enough, Selke found himself the recipient of another chance at career revival when all of the attackers ahead of him on the depth chart--Jessic Ngankam, Javairo Dilrosun, Jhon Cordorba, Matheus Cunha and Dodi Lukebakio--were shipped out by incoming sporting CEO Fredi Bobic.
But even that chance seemed to be squandered. After scoring the game-winning goal in the opening Pokal round, Selke continued to struggle in the league and found himself embroiled in controversy after controversy.
"The goal was very important for me personally," Selke said after the match, "Because the last few weeks haven't been easy for me. Not everything went as I had planned."
The first player who managed to get his arms around Selke was the striker he replaced. Stevan Jovetic offered up physical congrats to his teammate in addition to praising him in his own post-match interview.
"Ishak [Belfodil] and I coordinate very well," Jovetic said of the team's apparent new top axis partnership, "But Davie and Krzysztof Piatek are also talented strikers."
Piatek too came off the bench about ten minutes prior to Selke's introduction in the 88th. He narrowly missed a chance at the 2-0 off a set-up from Jovetic.
"We saw that the entire bench worked," new trainer Tayfun Korkut said afterwards, "Everyone got stuck in when they came in. Everyone made a contribution."
In addition to the contributions of the two strikers, Kevin-Prince Boateng put in a solid 21-minute relief shift; perhaps his best one back in the Hertha blue.